Breathing for Justice

exploring the intersections of Long COVID and disability justice

Breathing for Justice is a project by Jacqueline E. Luciano and Sarah Kim-Williams. Jacqueline is a BIPOC Communicators Fellow with Long COVID Justice, and a Narrative Architect for our Listening for the Long Haul (LFLH) project, which was developed in partnership with Dr. Jennifer Brier from the University of Illinois Chicago / History Moves. Sarah is a PhD student at the University of Illinois Chicago in Disability Studies and a research fellow for LFLH. 

Breathing for Justice launched in spring 2025 with a free online event featuring thought-provoking presentations, panel discussions, and community-driven conversations. See below for webinar recordings and resources.

The webinar presents a powerful conversation centered on the lived experiences of longhaulers navigating complex chronic conditions, disability, and systemic injustices. Speakers highlight how public health systems and government institutions continue to fall short in supporting disabled, chronically ill, and other marginalized communities. A strong call to action emerges from the event, advocating for structural change and community-driven solutions rooted in accessible care, equity, and justice. Currently, public health efforts are failing to provide accessible resources and education that prioritize patient-led and disability-led perspectives, lived experiences, and testimonies, which are critical to fully understanding and acting on this ongoing global public health crisis. 

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    Webinar

    April 23, 2025

    The Breathing for Justice webinar provides unique insights into how the intersections of Long COVID and disability justice affect individuals and communities, with a focus on inclusive health research and public history. Webinar recordings, slides, and resources are below.

    CART transcript is available here. Due to an unfortunate tech snafu, the ASL interpretation was not recorded during all parts of the webinar.

    Part One

    Video player for Part One of webinar.

    Part Two

    Video player for Part Two of webinar.

    Speaker & moderator bios

    Emi Kane 

    Emi Kane is the director of  Long COVID Justice / Strategies for High Impact. She is a disabled and chronically ill educator, researcher and organizer. Emi spent many years working for a large university and a small foundation on health and migration, reparations and redistributive justice, and how people think and learn. She is also a former National Collective member for INCITE, a feminist of color anti-violence network, a co-founder of Survived and Punished, and a former but forever proud member of the Allied Media Projects board of directors. Above all, she thinks that relationships of trust are the most important political tools we have, and tries to live and work in ways that reflect that belief.

    Kaimara Herron

    Kaimara Herron is a fourth year PhD student in History at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Project Manager for Listening for the Long Haul. 

    Gabriel San Emeterio, LMSW

    Gabriel (they/elle/she/he) is a Senior Fellow with Long COVID Justice / S4HI. They are a queer and disabled activist from Mexico City who migrated to New York City in the late 90’s. Gabriel holds a Masters degree in Social Work with Community Organizing as a method of practice and a certificate in Social Policy from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, where she is now part time faculty. They are also honored to be a member of the HIV Caucus (aka U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus). Gabriel’s life experience as a person living with HIV, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), and other complex chronic conditions, fuels their passion for disability justice and liberatory community work.

    Lygia Navarro

    Lygia Navarro (she/her) is a multiply-disabled independent journalist and the editorial director of the Disabled Journalists Association. Lygia’s work is focused on covering Latine stories, disability and health, and on telling intimate human stories which elucidate larger societal issues. Lygia has lived with long COVID since January 2021, and is based in Tkaronto (Toronto, Canada).

    Chimére L. Sweeney

    Chimére L. Sweeney is a retired educator and Long Covid activist, writer, and lecturer. Experiencing racism and discrimination while obtaining medical treatment for Long Covid and drawing from teaching underprivileged students in Baltimore, her mission has always been clear: inspire and empower Black patients to tell their unique stories on the physical, mental, and financial effects of Long Covid. From sharing her testimony with Congress to recently being a featured guest on The Washington Post’s Post Live, Sweeney’s message on aiding Black and disabled Long Covid patients in advocating for equitable health care is both passionate and honest. 


    As the Director of the Black Long Covid Experience, Chimére is a compassionate, trusted figure in the Long Covid community as she aids Black patients with receiving medical care and hosting virtual social events that are inclusive and accessible, including #TheTealReveal, a virtual prom for disabled Long Covid patients that also provided mutual aid to participants in need. This year, she organized #BLCEBHMSocial: Chronically Committed, a 10-day social media campaign to observe Black History Month for disabled Black people with Long Covid. This effort was supported by Long Covid and ME/CFS patients along with prominent community organizations who focus on both health conditions. The campaign also sponsored Black Long Covid Virtual Bingo, a fundraising event with proceeds that assisted a teen with Long Covid in Charlotte, NC.


    Chimére is a graduate of Morgan State University, earning a BA in English/Literature and Language. She is the curator and writer of The Blackest Side of Long Covid and host of The Blackest Side Podcast via Substack. In her spare time, she pet-sits and loves to paint. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, Taurean Sweeney.


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    Tracey Thompson

    Tracey Thompson is a Long COVID patient advocate and founder of BIRCH (Black Indigenous, Racialized Covid Health). She’s also a Narrative Architect with Listening for the Long Haul and an LCJ BIPOC Fellow. Tracey works to utilize her lived experience of Long COVID to break down the barriers faced by marginalized groups when attempting to access information, healthcare, and support. She strives to inform and educate about the history of post-viral illness, medical bias, and disability justice in working-class movements.


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    Maynard Sasis, RN

    Maynard Sasis contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 while working as a Registered Nurse. He is also a Community Narrator for Listening for the Long Haul. Learn about his Long COVID story featured on WTTW:

    Jacqueline E. Luciano

    Jacquie Luciano (she/her) is a Filipina-American who worked as a Regulatory Nurse Consultant during the start of the pandemic until she was disabled by Long COVID and associated conditions in 2022. She is a Narrative Architect for Listening for the Long Haul and a Long COVID Advisor for the National Organization for Nurses with Disabilities. In her role as a BIPOC Fellow with Long COVID Justice, she authored an apology letter to her mother—an open-hearted poem about systemic neglect and the pursuit of justice for the Long COVID and ME/CFS communities. Read more from The Sick Times + Disability Visibility Project: Color of Long COVID Series.

    Sarah Kim-Williams

    Sarah Kim-Williams is a PhD student in Disability Studies with a concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies at University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on disability and kinship in Asian American literature. As a little person, she is a staunch advocate for dwarf pride.

    Dr. Jennifer Brier

    Jennifer Brier is professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and History at University of Illinois Chicago. She is the Project Lead for “Listening for the Long Haul, a living history of Long COVID.” Brier is the author of Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Response to the AIDS Crisis (UNC, 2009). She has curated numerous historical exhibitions, including Out in Chicago for the Chicago History Museum, “Surviving and Thriving: AIDS, Politics and Culture,” a traveling exhibition for the National Library of Medicine, and “I’m Still Surviving,” www.stillsurviving.net, a transmedia living women’s history of HIV/AIDS.

    Morgan Leigh Davies

    Morgan Leigh Davies is a writer living in Brooklyn whose work has appeared in a wide range of publications including The Sick Times, Electric Lit, Jezebel, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She has lived with long covid since 2022 and complex chronic illness since 2011. In addition to advocating for those with long covid, she volunteers as a mentor to young writers through Girls Write Now.

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    Dr. Iliana Pagán-Teitelblaum

    Dr. Iliana Pagán-Teiteblaum is a Puerto Rican educator, writer, filmmaker, and artist. She is an Associate Professor of Languages and Cultures at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has a BA from the University of Puerto Rico and a PhD from Harvard University. Her research focuses on media and equity in Latin America. Her short film Mulberry Tree (2025) honors the healing relationship between a sick migrant Latinx woman and a 100-year-old tree.

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    Resources

    Resources shared by panelists:

    Connect with Breathing for Justice

    Contact the organizers by emailing [email protected], and follow via Instagram and Bluesky.

    Sponsors

    We are grateful for the support of Illinois Humanities and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), whose grants helped make this program possible.