Text Only: An Autoethnography of Friendship, Phones, and ME/CFS

Authors

• Chelsea Wahl, St. John Fisher University

Document Type

Poster Presentation

Publication Date

4-17-2026

Keywords

fsc2026

Abstract

Disability from chronic illnesses is on the rise in the United States, in part due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and COVID sequelae. Some conditions such as long COVID and ME/CFS impact neurological function and make tasks that non-disabled people think of as ordinary, like talking on the phone or going for a walk, excruciatingly painful or exhausting. For some disabled people, personal devices like smartphones are one of only a few ways that they can connect with their communities. This paper presents an autoethnography of how two friends maintained and in some ways reinvented their friendship when one was severely disabled by ME/CFS and the other (the author) was not. Conversations were characterized by creative uses of texting applications and bespoke norms of conversation. The paper also grapples with the insufficiency of personal devices to create connection, and the unique risks that severely disabled people are exposed to when using mobile apps and social media.

Comments

Poster presented at the 2026 Fisher Showcase, St. John Fisher University, April 17, 2026.

Publication Information

Wahl, Chelsea, "Text Only: An Autoethnography of Friendship, Phones, and ME/CFS" (2026). Fisher Showcase 2026. Paper 186.
https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/fsc2026/186

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