LONG COVID AND DISABILITY
Abstract
Long COVID-a cluster of continuing symptoms that persist months, or years, after contracting COVID-19-remains an emerging issue as the pandemic that began in 2020 continues unabated, and largely uncontrolled, into an uncertain future. Long COVID has many features that make it disabling, or an impairment that constitutes a disability, depending on the kind and degree of an individual’s symptoms, and their relationship to wider social forces. Long COVID also raises important questions concerning disability rights, justice, and recognition. In this chapter, I analyze long COVID in the context of the literature on disability, including its potential impact on the future of disability studies, philosophy of disability, and disability communities writ large.