Vera Kubenz she/they
@verakub.bsky.social
PGR - Encounters with strangers in accessible parking spaces. Disability / queer / media studies. Views own. #BWithTheT
Pinned
"‘There’s nothing wrong with you’: The making of disability through encounters in accessible parking spaces"
✍️ verakub.bsky.social highlights how the policing of accessible parking bays by strangers can actively exclude disabled people from using these spaces.
buff.ly/4IZGxoE
#parking #BlueBadge
✍️ verakub.bsky.social highlights how the policing of accessible parking bays by strangers can actively exclude disabled people from using these spaces.
buff.ly/4IZGxoE
#parking #BlueBadge
‘There’s nothing wrong with you’: The making of disability through encounters in accessible parking spaces
buff.ly
My new paper in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
highlights how having their legitimacy challenged in accessible parking space can actively stop disabled people from using these spaces, meaning there is no such thing as an 'accessible' space.
Full paper is open access below ⤵️
#DisabilitySky
highlights how having their legitimacy challenged in accessible parking space can actively stop disabled people from using these spaces, meaning there is no such thing as an 'accessible' space.
Full paper is open access below ⤵️
#DisabilitySky
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Incredibly sad to hear of the death of @sfdirewolf.bsky.social. I was always amazed by her generosity in our (small) interactions, and I've got a lot from her writing. Rest in power, what a force.
“With so many marginalized communities, we’re basically the oracles…we’re the ones who see shit before it happens.” In June 2020, I interviewed Alice Wong for TVU before she lost her ability to speak. I asked her how she’d first learned of SARS-CoV-2. She began with the 2016 election of Trump:
November 15, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Incredibly sad to hear of the death of @sfdirewolf.bsky.social. I was always amazed by her generosity in our (small) interactions, and I've got a lot from her writing. Rest in power, what a force.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
The philosopher D. R. Parton said:
Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin'
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.
1/2
Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin'
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.
1/2
August 6, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The philosopher D. R. Parton said:
Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin'
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.
1/2
Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin'
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.
1/2
It's done!
After four years (end of my minimum period), I have just submitted my PhD thesis on disabled people's encounters in accessible parking spaces 🥳♿🅿️
#DisabilitySky #DisabilityStudies #BlueBadge #PhD #PhDlife
After four years (end of my minimum period), I have just submitted my PhD thesis on disabled people's encounters in accessible parking spaces 🥳♿🅿️
#DisabilitySky #DisabilityStudies #BlueBadge #PhD #PhDlife
September 26, 2025 at 12:20 PM
It's done!
After four years (end of my minimum period), I have just submitted my PhD thesis on disabled people's encounters in accessible parking spaces 🥳♿🅿️
#DisabilitySky #DisabilityStudies #BlueBadge #PhD #PhDlife
After four years (end of my minimum period), I have just submitted my PhD thesis on disabled people's encounters in accessible parking spaces 🥳♿🅿️
#DisabilitySky #DisabilityStudies #BlueBadge #PhD #PhDlife
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Speaking from Gaza, Manar Al Houbi told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show she was informed just days before her evacuation from Gaza that her family would not be allowed to come with her – despite the Labour Government allowing other students' families to enter the UK.
Gaza student hoping for Glasgow PhD in urgent plea as family blocked from entering UK
A student from Gaza hoping to study in Scotland has issued a plea to the UK Government urging them not to "make her choose" between her…
www.thenational.scot
September 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Speaking from Gaza, Manar Al Houbi told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show she was informed just days before her evacuation from Gaza that her family would not be allowed to come with her – despite the Labour Government allowing other students' families to enter the UK.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
With another 9 @ucu.org.uk branches now calling on UCU to do the right thing we wonder if @drjogrady.bsky.social is listening to her members.
September 19, 2025 at 1:19 PM
With another 9 @ucu.org.uk branches now calling on UCU to do the right thing we wonder if @drjogrady.bsky.social is listening to her members.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Great to hear a robust challenge to DWPs misleading stats on out of work benefits. Thank you as ever @benbgeiger.bsky.social
Are out of work benefits at a record high? Prof. Ben Geiger (@benbgeiger.bsky.social) from the ESRC Centre for Society & Mental Health explains that the official statistics are wildly misleading on BBC radio 4’s More or Less this morning. Have a listen! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
More or Less - Is it true that out-of-work benefits have almost doubled? - BBC Sounds
Out-of-work benefits, French pensioners, surprising salmon and the truth about senses.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Great to hear a robust challenge to DWPs misleading stats on out of work benefits. Thank you as ever @benbgeiger.bsky.social
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
When we talk about how "Magneto was right," this is why -- here he is, correctly predicting how this is going to go. It starts with dehumanizing; then that leads to tracking; tracking leads to arrests; arrests lead to camps; camps lead to genocide.
In researching my latest video, I found a clip of dialogue cut from the first X-Men film: Magneto makes it much clearer why the Mutant Registration Act will lead to something worse than the act's "intention." I think it should've been kept in!
(My full video's available now -- youtu.be/ZhtkT0IeavA)
(My full video's available now -- youtu.be/ZhtkT0IeavA)
September 2, 2025 at 8:09 PM
When we talk about how "Magneto was right," this is why -- here he is, correctly predicting how this is going to go. It starts with dehumanizing; then that leads to tracking; tracking leads to arrests; arrests lead to camps; camps lead to genocide.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Oh nothing gets racists more puce than having a better car than them. I have STORIES
Long time ago, local figure started complaining about asylum seekers and their Porsches. We were confused - there weren't any asylum seekers and they wouldn't have nice cars. Turns out it was locally-born middle class children of Chinese immigrants moving into the new builds.
August 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Oh nothing gets racists more puce than having a better car than them. I have STORIES
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Just today Anas tweeted this:
August 10, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Just today Anas tweeted this:
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
The #IDF has just murdered #AnasAlSharif & several #AlJazeera colleagues in a targeted strike on their tent. After weeks of harassment.
What consequences?
@peninternational.bsky.social @indexoncensorship.org @ifjglobal.bsky.social @cpjunion.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social
What consequences?
@peninternational.bsky.social @indexoncensorship.org @ifjglobal.bsky.social @cpjunion.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social
August 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM
The #IDF has just murdered #AnasAlSharif & several #AlJazeera colleagues in a targeted strike on their tent. After weeks of harassment.
What consequences?
@peninternational.bsky.social @indexoncensorship.org @ifjglobal.bsky.social @cpjunion.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social
What consequences?
@peninternational.bsky.social @indexoncensorship.org @ifjglobal.bsky.social @cpjunion.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
As a disabled activitist grieving for the deaths to come because of Wednesday's vote, who's had to see the front page media headlines saying we *still* are getting too much, this is the true face of Britain. They want us dead. We're inconvenient and unprofitable. Glad JM has joined us.
I could never have imagined, before I started doing this work, that I would come to believe what I now do: in the sheer ugliness, venality and dishonesty, of Britain's media and institutions and politicians. They literally do not give a fuck. Sorry to those who know I should have got here sooner.
July 11, 2025 at 11:26 AM
As a disabled activitist grieving for the deaths to come because of Wednesday's vote, who's had to see the front page media headlines saying we *still* are getting too much, this is the true face of Britain. They want us dead. We're inconvenient and unprofitable. Glad JM has joined us.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Read the thread and don’t be an asshole! #SupportTransKids (& adults)
Incontrovertible evidence, now, of *police* investigating families supporting their kids with gender affirming healthcare in the UK. For trying to do the best for your child, following best practice in most of the world, here you get a visit from the police.
Thank you, Wes Streeting.
Thank you, Wes Streeting.
July 11, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Read the thread and don’t be an asshole! #SupportTransKids (& adults)
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Men deserve safety too you absolute ghoul
Caroline Flint: "They're mostly men"
Adil Ray: "Well of course, men will think, I'm not going to risk my mother, or my sister, or my daughters coming on the boat, I'm going to go there first. My father came here & then brought his family over" #GMB
Adil Ray: "Well of course, men will think, I'm not going to risk my mother, or my sister, or my daughters coming on the boat, I'm going to go there first. My father came here & then brought his family over" #GMB
July 11, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Men deserve safety too you absolute ghoul
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Incontrovertible evidence, now, of *police* investigating families supporting their kids with gender affirming healthcare in the UK. For trying to do the best for your child, following best practice in most of the world, here you get a visit from the police.
Thank you, Wes Streeting.
Thank you, Wes Streeting.
July 11, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Incontrovertible evidence, now, of *police* investigating families supporting their kids with gender affirming healthcare in the UK. For trying to do the best for your child, following best practice in most of the world, here you get a visit from the police.
Thank you, Wes Streeting.
Thank you, Wes Streeting.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Four disabled Labour MPs stood up to their government’s attempts to reduce vital disability benefits, despite ministers’ chaotic last-ditch concessions to rebels that removed a significant chunk of their cuts bill.
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/four-disable...
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/four-disable...
Four disabled Labour MPs stand up to government over cuts to disability benefits
Four disabled Labour MPs stood up to their government’s attempts to reduce vital disability benefits, despite ministers’ chaotic last-ditch concessions to rebels that removed a significant chunk of…
www.disabilitynewsservice.com
July 4, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Four disabled Labour MPs stood up to their government’s attempts to reduce vital disability benefits, despite ministers’ chaotic last-ditch concessions to rebels that removed a significant chunk of their cuts bill.
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/four-disable...
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/four-disable...
My new paper in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
highlights how having their legitimacy challenged in accessible parking space can actively stop disabled people from using these spaces, meaning there is no such thing as an 'accessible' space.
Full paper is open access below ⤵️
#DisabilitySky
highlights how having their legitimacy challenged in accessible parking space can actively stop disabled people from using these spaces, meaning there is no such thing as an 'accessible' space.
Full paper is open access below ⤵️
#DisabilitySky
"‘There’s nothing wrong with you’: The making of disability through encounters in accessible parking spaces"
✍️ verakub.bsky.social highlights how the policing of accessible parking bays by strangers can actively exclude disabled people from using these spaces.
buff.ly/4IZGxoE
#parking #BlueBadge
✍️ verakub.bsky.social highlights how the policing of accessible parking bays by strangers can actively exclude disabled people from using these spaces.
buff.ly/4IZGxoE
#parking #BlueBadge
‘There’s nothing wrong with you’: The making of disability through encounters in accessible parking spaces
buff.ly
July 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
My new paper in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
highlights how having their legitimacy challenged in accessible parking space can actively stop disabled people from using these spaces, meaning there is no such thing as an 'accessible' space.
Full paper is open access below ⤵️
#DisabilitySky
highlights how having their legitimacy challenged in accessible parking space can actively stop disabled people from using these spaces, meaning there is no such thing as an 'accessible' space.
Full paper is open access below ⤵️
#DisabilitySky
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
🏙️ NEW article in our Special Issue on "Infrastructural encounters: Disability in urban lives"
Take a look 👇🧵
#UrbanStudies
Take a look 👇🧵
#UrbanStudies
July 3, 2025 at 1:31 PM
🏙️ NEW article in our Special Issue on "Infrastructural encounters: Disability in urban lives"
Take a look 👇🧵
#UrbanStudies
Take a look 👇🧵
#UrbanStudies
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Funny how they went for the Black and Irish bands isn’t it (white Irish people: welcome back!)
The media coverage led me to believe that Kneecap and Bob Vylan are the two acts who spoke out about Israel. Reports I've watched from people who were at Glastonbury so far confirm FORTY TWO separate acts condemned Israel's actions and stated "Free Palestine".
July 2, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Funny how they went for the Black and Irish bands isn’t it (white Irish people: welcome back!)
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
A 2nd paper from my PhD on #BlueBadge parking encounters is now published in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
‘There’s nothing wrong with you’: The making of disability through encounters in accessible parking spaces - Vera Isabella Kubenz, 2025
This paper explores what constitutes an ‘accessible’ space by examining encounters in accessible parking spaces during which disabled people are accused of ‘fak...
journals.sagepub.com
June 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
A 2nd paper from my PhD on #BlueBadge parking encounters is now published in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
A 2nd paper from my PhD on #BlueBadge parking encounters is now published in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
‘There’s nothing wrong with you’: The making of disability through encounters in accessible parking spaces - Vera Isabella Kubenz, 2025
This paper explores what constitutes an ‘accessible’ space by examining encounters in accessible parking spaces during which disabled people are accused of ‘fak...
journals.sagepub.com
June 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
A 2nd paper from my PhD on #BlueBadge parking encounters is now published in @urbanstudiesjournal.com
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
This one focuses on 'faking' encounters and how no space is truly accessible while disabled people are under constant surveillance
Available open access here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
Stephen Kinnock is lying. People don't lose PIP when they get a job, its not an out of work benefit & plenty of people on PIP work
Kinnock knows this. What he's doing is part of a wider govt strategy to paint disabled people as shirkers & scroungers stealing from working people
Kinnock knows this. What he's doing is part of a wider govt strategy to paint disabled people as shirkers & scroungers stealing from working people
June 27, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Stephen Kinnock is lying. People don't lose PIP when they get a job, its not an out of work benefit & plenty of people on PIP work
Kinnock knows this. What he's doing is part of a wider govt strategy to paint disabled people as shirkers & scroungers stealing from working people
Kinnock knows this. What he's doing is part of a wider govt strategy to paint disabled people as shirkers & scroungers stealing from working people
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
It's not MP's Starmer needs to talk to it's disabled people and our orgs, the fact his entire discussion with MP's of his own party shows he has learnt nothing. He is playing politics with our lives and does not even respect us enough to involve us.
Kill The Bill.
Kill The Bill.
June 26, 2025 at 8:13 PM
It's not MP's Starmer needs to talk to it's disabled people and our orgs, the fact his entire discussion with MP's of his own party shows he has learnt nothing. He is playing politics with our lives and does not even respect us enough to involve us.
Kill The Bill.
Kill The Bill.
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
[email protected]’s resignation is a stark warning. An MP with a decent knowledge of the welfare system & employment struggles of Disabled people sees the truly devastating impact of the proposed cuts – and acted on it.
@johnpring.bsky.social #TakingThePIP
@johnpring.bsky.social #TakingThePIP
Disabled MP who quit government over benefit cuts tells DNS: ‘The consequences will be devastating’
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-mp-...
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-mp-...
Disabled MP who quit government over benefit cuts tells DNS: ‘The consequences will be devastating’
Disabled Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft has described how she was left with “no choice” but to resign as a whip over government plans to cut billions of pounds a year from disability benefits. In her fir…
www.disabilitynewsservice.com
June 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
[email protected]’s resignation is a stark warning. An MP with a decent knowledge of the welfare system & employment struggles of Disabled people sees the truly devastating impact of the proposed cuts – and acted on it.
@johnpring.bsky.social #TakingThePIP
@johnpring.bsky.social #TakingThePIP
Reposted by Vera Kubenz she/they
I wrote about how two icons, Beyoncé and Karen O, helped me through the ordeal of hitting puberty in the early 2000s for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social
Beyoncé, Karen O and getting past the male gaze
app.theneweuropean.co.uk/story/137746...
Beyoncé, Karen O and getting past the male gaze
app.theneweuropean.co.uk/story/137746...
June 25, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I wrote about how two icons, Beyoncé and Karen O, helped me through the ordeal of hitting puberty in the early 2000s for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social
Beyoncé, Karen O and getting past the male gaze
app.theneweuropean.co.uk/story/137746...
Beyoncé, Karen O and getting past the male gaze
app.theneweuropean.co.uk/story/137746...
I considered quitting 2 weeks into my PhD after being told I'd have to sit in a building off campus because my school couldn't meet my accessibility needs: a chair with armrests plus a desk not directly underneath a light. I complained. PGR lead told me to calm down bc they were "trying to help me".
It's hard to read this, as a career HE disability practitioner. I've dedicated 25 years to supporting disabled students and lobbying for genuine change. But we're going backwards. And I'm tired.
Disabled students are almost twice as likely to have considered quitting wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Disabled students are almost twice as likely to have considered quitting wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Disabled students are almost twice as likely to have considered quitting
It’s easy to miss something you’re not looking for.
wonkhe.com
June 25, 2025 at 8:57 PM
I considered quitting 2 weeks into my PhD after being told I'd have to sit in a building off campus because my school couldn't meet my accessibility needs: a chair with armrests plus a desk not directly underneath a light. I complained. PGR lead told me to calm down bc they were "trying to help me".