The UK government's recent announcement that the highly controversial Work Capability Assessment (WCA) will likely be abolished leaves questions of what precisely will emerge in its place. This commentary revisits a construct central to the attempted justification of the WCA, that of ‘common health problems’, which may well continue to leave a legacy in delineating purported ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ impairment, ill-health and related disability. After outlining the politically strategic application of this construct in social policy, concerns are raised for long Covid. In particular, the risk of long Covid following the trajectory of another post-infection diagnosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome, is discussed.

中文翻译：

---

将歧视性社会政治格局视为“不值得”的残疾人：常见健康问题的遗留问题和长期新冠疫情的未来

英国政府最近宣布，备受争议的工作能力评估（WCA）可能会被废除，这引发了人们的疑问：究竟会出现什么来取代它。这篇评论重新审视了 WCA 试图论证的核心概念，即“常见健康问题”，它很可能会继续在描述所谓的“应得”和“不应得”的损伤、健康状况不佳和相关残疾方面留下遗产。在概述了这种结构在社会政策中的政治战略应用后，人们对长期的新冠疫情提出了担忧。特别是，讨论了沿着另一种感染后诊断——肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征——的轨迹长期感染新冠病毒的风险。