At this point, we’ve all become aware of COVID-19 and the impact it has on people when they are sick with the virus. But the initial infection is just the start of many people’s recovery journey. Approximately 30% will experience Long COVID, a diverse set of symptoms that can last for months. This includes those whose initial illness is relatively light.
Long COVID
Long COVID symptoms are diverse. They include fatigue, breathing and heart issues, neurological impact, mental health (anxiety), and brain fog. Not recognizing Long COVID affects those returning to the workplace and not able to meet previous expectations.
Brain Fog
Brain fog is not unique to COVID-19. It’s also common for people recovering from cancer treatment, menopause, and chronic illness. It includes short term memory loss, difficulty focusing on tasks, blurred vision, and mental acuity.
Working with Long COVID
As we bring our whole selves to work, this includes our temporary and permanent disabilities. There are tools and resources for succeeding while experiencing Long COVID and Brain Fog. This starts with recognition from leaders and managers, working together for accommodations plans, and realistic goals and expectations.
Inclusive Design
With an awareness of Long COVID and Brain Fog, we can make changes to our products and services to support our customers and colleagues. Designs should support readability, recognition instead of recall, and simple vs complex designs.
The following resources have been collected while researching Long COVID, Brain Fog, and inclusive design for an upcoming presentation at CSUN 22. There’s a lack of information about how we can use our roles as accessibility and inclusive design leaders to improve the usability of our products and services for people who have Long COVID and its associated disabilities. Now is the time for us to reevaluate our work to include short term memory loss, anxiety, loss of focus, readability, and alternative documentation formats.
Resources
Podcast episodes for Brain Fog
- Coronavirus: Piercing the “Brain Fog” of Long-Haul Covid (Science Rules with Bill Nye)
- How Brain Fog Lingers Even After Mild COVID-19 Cases (California Report KQED)
- What Causes COVID Brain Fog? (Rostrum)
Articles:
Long COVID
- The tragedy of long COVID – Harvard Health
- Symptom Duration and Risk Factors for Delayed Return to Usual Health Among Outpatients with COVID-19 in a Multistate Health Care Systems Network — United States, March–June 2020
- A clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition by a Delphi consensus, 6 October 2021
- Persistent neurologic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in non?hospitalized Covid?19 “long haulers” – Graham – 2021 – Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology – Wiley Online Library
- Everything we know about long COVID, from strange phantom smells to chronic fatigue | National Post
- Long-term follow-up of choroidal changes following COVID-19 infection: analysis of choroidal thickness and choroidal vascularity index
- Anxiety | Long-term effects of COVID-19
Brain Fog
- Post COVID Brain Fog Treatment: How to Think Clearly Again
- The role of Megakaryocytes
- What is COVID-19 brain fog — and how can you clear it? – Harvard Health
- Post COVID Brain Fog Treatment: How to Think Clearly Again
- “I can’t cope with multiple inputs”: Qualitative study of the lived experience of ‘brain fog’ after Covid-19 | medRxiv
- Long Twitter thread about COVID’s impact on intelligence by Prof. Christina Pagel
- Cognitive deficits in people who have recovered from COVID-19 – EClinicalMedicine
- Selective Neuronal Mitochondrial Targeting in SARS-CoV-2 Infection Affects Cognitive Processes to Induce ‘Brain Fog’ and Results in Behavioral Changes that Favor Viral Survival
- Brain fog in Covid-19 patients can persist for months, even in those who were not hospitalized, study finds – CNN
- Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory
- Chemo Brain
Accommodations and Resources
- Job Accommodations Network
User Experience and Accessibility
- How will Long-Covid Change the UX Accessibility Landscape? | by Gareth Ford Williams | UX Collective
- RESPECTING FOCUS: A Behavior Guide for Intelligent Systems (pdf)
- UX Principles that include Cognitive Accessibility
- Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force (Coga TF – W3C)
Continue the conversation by adding links to resources in the comments.