Disability Activists Bring Wisdom From the Pandemic to New Struggles Under Trump

The article below is an adapted excerpt from the introduction of How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic , an anthology recently published by NYU Press that chronicles experiences of ableism and diverse disability activism in New York City (and beyond) during the first four years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The anthology’s authors are a collective of disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and nondisabled scholars, students, activists, lawyers, journalists, artists and librarians.

Disabled people hold immense expertise in navigating both chronic illnesses and moments of crisis. And yet, despite all the public reflections on “lessons learned” at the five-year anniversary of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — from which hundreds of people in the U.S. are still dying each week — disabled p