Standing together against stigma and disbelief
Long Covid Kids has joined fellow members of the Overlapping Illness Alliance in raising concerns with The Telegraph following the publication of “How having a disability became cool.”
Our joint letter challenges the presentation of complex and often misunderstood illnesses and disability through narratives of fashion, identity and social contagion, and the risk of reinforcing stigma and suspicion towards people who already struggle to have their illnesses recognised and taken seriously.
Together, we are asking The Telegraph to review the framing and factual basis of the article and to ensure future coverage draws on appropriate evidence, clinical expertise and the voices of people directly affected.
Long Covid Kids has also written separately to The Telegraph, specifically about the implications for children and young people. Our response draws on evidence we gave to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and our published research into media representations of Long Covid in children and young people.
For children living with poorly understood, fluctuating or less visible illness, disbelief can have real consequences for healthcare, education, support and participation.
Children should not have to perform suffering to be believed.
If this article has affected you or your family and you want to take action, you can write respectfully to The Telegraph or contact your MP and share your own experience. Tell them what it is like when symptoms are doubted. What a mobility aid or adjustment makes possible. What you or your child have had to fight to access. What disbelief and stigma can mean in real life.
A gap in knowledge or understanding is not evidence that a person's symptoms are not real. What we do not yet understand should prompt curiosity, not suspicion.
'How having a disability became cool’ - An article in the The Telegraph, 5 September 2026
Dear Editor,
We are writing to you in response to your recent article, How having a disability became
cool. We are concerned by the article’s presentation of complex and often misunderstood health conditions through a narrative of fashion, identity and social contagion.
The article reinforces dangerous stereotypes, stigma and suspicion towards people who already struggle to have their illnesses recognised and taken seriously.
Please read the full letter here:
