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Posted by Alice Wong DVP Blog Posts and Essays

Disabled Outrage and #PodSaveJon

Disabled Outrage and #PodSaveJon

Alice Wong

 

Horizontal view of a COVID test with two lines indicating it is positive.
Horizontal view of a COVID test with two lines indicating it is positive.

This summer marks my tenth year on the hellsite known as Twitter. I honed my voice as a writer, found community, and carved out places by creating the hashtag #CripTheVote for example. From The Great Peeled Fruit Debate to plastic straw bans, I participated in conversations that push back at ableism where the scenario follows the same formula repeatedly: 

  • Nondisabled person mocks something important to disabled people, often calling us lazy, ignorant, or bitter; 
  • Disabled people reply refuting the casual ableism, tell their story, and spend time providing information;
  • Nondisabled person becomes the victim, gets defensive, and doubles down

A few days ago Jon Favreau, the co-host of Pod Save America who has over a million followers, screenshot and commented on a Tweet by someone in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ announcement that he tested positive for COVID, planned to work from home, and was glad to be vaccinated. I began to read numerous cogent responses by people with Long COVID and other chronic illnesses and disabilities about why Sanders’ message was inadequate since it ignores the fact that many people do not have the privilege to work from home; how minimal activity can be detrimental to recovery; and how vaccines cannot be the only source of mitigation especially as the Senator is Chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee. 

The outrage, frustration, and sadness in the replies was real; people were tired of the “vax and relax” narrative and glib responses like the ones from Favreau. I Tweeted suggesting people push for an episode on long COVID policy on the podcast with the tag #PodSaveJon because he and other progressives do not understand the magnitude of abandonment of high risk people by the state and how far away we still are from having any tools or solutions for people with and developing Long Covid (which can happen to anyone).

Hashtags don’t always take off but this one resonated deeply with disabled and sick people who have been forgotten and gaslit since and before the pandemic. An outpouring of deeply personal stories and free education happened and this became much more than about one person’s ableism, but about the pervasive framing of disabled outrage as bullying, piling on, and “unhinged” a sanist slur used by Favreau. As someone who curses on his podcast, Favreau tone policing people with Long COVID and saying this type of advocacy is counterproductive and absurd is the height of respectability politics and privilege. 

Not limited to Favreau, he and other nondisabled people determine what is reasonable and what kind of advocacy is legitimate since they seem to know much more than millions of people actually impacted. The “pandemic is over” crowd thinks it’s admirable to work while sick and that wearing masks is virtue signaling or a symptom of a mental illness. When I thought the conversation would taper after a few days, Favreau belittled users of #PodSaveJon and clutched his dudebro pearls at being called an ableist eugenicist, spurring even more outrage by people who are fighting for their lives and genuinely want him to do better. Disabled and chronically ill people expended immense amounts of time, energy, care, and labor just to survive and be heard only to be trivialized once again. 

“#PodSaveJon captured the boiling point of Long Covid, disability and vulnerable communities in their rage. This was never about Jon  — this was about being profoundly ignored by our media, politics, & progressive organizations and figures — he just happened to represent all three.” – Charlie McCone, patient advocate with Long COVID. 

A hashtag, while derided by some as “not real” activism, is an organizing tool, one tactic out of many. With the 2024 election year gearing up, Democrats like Jon Favreau have shown how little they care about the politics of being disabled while expecting votes from us. It’s no wonder why people are cynical, feel taken for granted, and turned off from any kind of political participation. Long COVID is going to be a major policy issue this year and people are watching to see which candidates, if any, will include it on their platform. Minimized as personal attacks, people like Favreau miss the larger issues raised in critiques by disabled people at their own peril. 

“Despite at least 14 million American adults and millions more children currently experiencing Long COVID, with BIPOC communities, transgender people, and women disproportionately impacted, no bills have been passed in Congress regarding care or support for people with Long COVID and we’re at risk of no dedicated research funding in 2025. The politicization of COVID has made it so any efforts to help people with Long COVID are essentially dead-on-arrival in Congress, and this piles on top of the historical neglect and underfunding of infection-associated chronic conditions pre-COVID. There are only a handful of pharmacological clinical trials in the works, and patients do not have access to high-quality care to manage their symptoms, whether due to wait times, being in a rural area, or the fact that only 4% of physicians are very confident treating the condition. Not only are we seeing estimated economic costs of $3.7 trillion in the first five years alone, but we’re continuously being exposed to the giant gaps in our social safety net meant to provide for disabled people who are unable to work. Long COVID has impacted or will impact nearly every policy area – from healthcare to human services to economics to education to infrastructure to defense – yet the establishment is putting their heads in the sand and acting as though the problem will miraculously go away. It’s not going away, and in fact, is only increasing as COVID continues to spread and reinfections leading to higher risk of developing Long COVID.” – Lisa McCorkell, co-founder of Patient-Led Research Collaborative

Disabled outrage is necessary and liberatory; it reveals the fissures in society and the consequences of structural oppression. It comes from a place of hurt and injustice. It is resistance against erasure. 

People who claim to be allies should do the work unpacking the root causes of disabled outrage if they truly want to be in solidarity with us. Fannie Lou Hamer said, ”I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” I am tired thinking about the work that lies ahead but I know I’m not alone. 

Here’s to more disabled outrage in the Year of the Dragon!

Digital portrait by Jen White-Johnson. An Asian American woman with a tracheostomy and a tube attached to her throat in a wheelchair. She is wearing a bright red lip color and a blue cardigan. On the left is her cat Bert, a brown tabby, and to her right is Ernie, an orange cat. Behind them is a pink background with a round halo enveloping them. There are curly stylized red and orange clouds in the background.
Digital portrait by Jen White-Johnson. An Asian American woman with a tracheostomy and a tube attached to her throat in a wheelchair. She is wearing a bright red lip color and a blue cardigan. On the left is her cat Bert, a brown tabby, and to her right is Ernie, an orange cat. Behind them is a pink background with a round halo enveloping them. There are curly stylized red and orange clouds in the background.

 

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