Carly Minsky

Tech journalist & content creator. Preoccupied with philosophical ponderings, fighting the patriarchy & advocating for rescue dogs. Also writing a novel.

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

@RichGittins @AyoCaesar Thank you, it was pretty scary (I'm a woman walking alone on a quiet street and the man riding alongside me on a bike).

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

The govt's proposals for improving fire safety for disabled residents in high rises involve adaptations only being made if the disabled resident can pay for it.

So poorer disabled renters simply have to accept fire safety risks.

(from @InclusionLondon)

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

This is my experience too, in fact when I sought help & detailed my years of menstrual issues I was told my debilitating pain, blood loss, anemia etc wasn't really a problem because tests showed I was 'very fertile', as if that is the only measure of health.

[Kelly @broadwaybabyto]

When I needed a hysterectomy due to severe endometriosis & adenomyosis, I was repeatedly denied

Told I “might want kids.”
Told I “might meet a man who wants kids”

I was left disabled & bed ridden, yet the system continued to try & save my diseased uterus against my will 🧵

[Lucy Webster @Lucy_Webster_]

Proud to add my name to this illustrious list of disabled people urging the government to stop #TakingThePIP and cancel disability benefit cuts

Our voices must be heard

@TakingThePIP1
https://t.co/9O2HmIuIiF

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

@AliceStainer Yep, I was in a relationship with a wheelchair user for 2 years and there were shocking incidents of inaccessibility, abuse and service failures on a weekly basis. I was still learning the extent of these experiences after 2 years together.

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

As an able-bodied person who used to regularly travel with a wheelchair user, I have unfortunately seen how common it is for staff to lecture & patronise disabled people then get annoyed if that isn't received totally graciously. It's unacceptable.

[Anna Landre ♿️ @annalandre]

Was just fully denied the right to travel today at Liverpool St Stn, on any train, because @networkrail staff collectively refused to deploy a ramp for me.

Why? One of them claimed I was “rude” for telling him I didn’t need the lecture he was giving me on why they’d failed to …

[Pulp Librarian @PulpLibrarian]

It's #Eurovision today!

But - song contest aside - #Eurovision itself was a pioneering (and often chaotic!) attempt to collaborate on new technology across Europe. And it only happened because of Queen Elizabeth ll.

Let's look back at the birth of European broadcasting...

[latsot @latsot]

Many, many disabled people have this experience. I use trains fairly often and I book passenger assistance in advance every time. All they need to do is show up with a ramp when I get on and when I get off. I always make myself known to station staff (when I can find any) to remind them that I need help... And about 50% of the time they just don't turn up at all, even when I've reminded them I'm there.

The last time this happened was late at night when I was catching the last train home. If I hadn't been travelling with a friend, I'd have been stranded.

There have been many occasions when I've had to shout to a staff member on the platform that I need help getting off the train. If there hadn't been a staff member in the vicinity, I'd have had to stay on the train until (at least) the next stop.

I've had (Darlington) station staff tell me that I wouldn't be allowed on the train I'd booked because it was running a bit late and it would take too long to get me on board. This man then tried to tell me my passenger assistance booking, which I had in my hand, was somehow invalid and refused to bring the ramp, which was about four feet away.

Fortunately, the conductor on the train was perfectly happy to use the train ramp to get me onboard. But I'm quite willing and able to make a fuss, not all disabled people can or want to do this and *nobody* should have to.

I've been treated like a nuisance on buses and on planes. I've been left for 30 minutes on a plane after everyone else disembarked because they forgot about me. I've had my wheelchair (thankfully briefly) lost because they took it from the plane to the wrong gate, somehow.

All we expect is to be able to get on transport and travel like everyone else, but the barriers are significant, even for those of us who are confident, experienced travellers.

It's not within ten thousand miles of good enough.

https://t.co/VySbaKWEoV

[dan @cig_influencer]

disability benefits are not supposed to work for "businesses who need workers", they are supposed to work for disabled people who need to live, you evil fucking prick

[LabyrinthMind @LabyrinthADHD]

A *very rough* initial estimate of the relative prominence of ableist themes found in the Green Paper, based on how frequently they appeared. 🤔#ThematicAnalysis @Shrink_at_Large It's hard to quantify qualitative themes, but you get me lol

[James Taylor @Jamestaylor2]

Being disabled in the UK comes with a Price Tag. On average this is £1,010 a month. Costs many don't face - equipment, adaptations, carers.

Proposed cuts to disability benefits will be catastrophic.

Join us @scope to challenge this

https://t.co/Pxxs6PyGZk

[Sian Berry @sianberry]

If you want a clear illustration of the Government’s disregard for really engaging with Disabled people, they have produced NO accessible versions of their plans today.

[Tim Boxall ♿🇪🇺 Et Daemonium In Rotae @timboxall]

Particularly for those able-bodied, here's a few great accounts to follow to get valuable insight and information on living with #disability

@MikScarlet
@RachelCDailey
@DrFrancesRyan
@adamfare1996
@Shrink_at_Large
@Tanni_GT

[Mik Scarlet @MikScarlet]

What's most frustrating about the current focus on cutting "disability benefits" is pretty much all of us would happily give them up for a properly accessible inclusive society. I'd give back my Motability car in an instant to be able to take all public transport.

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

@Olivia_Reingold Which is to say - you have nothing to be ashamed about for not knowing things 'you should have learnt as a toddler' - knowledge should never be a condition for who is really Jewish or who gets included or whose Jewish identity is legitimate.

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

@Olivia_Reingold Also, I was raised culturally Jewish with two Jewish parents, our whole family was involved in Jewish community life but I never received any formal Jewish education and can barely read Hebrew even to follow prayers. I don't have the basic knowledge most people raised Jewish have

[Carly Minsky @carlyminsky]

@Olivia_Reingold For what it's worth, there are non-orthodox communities who would warmly welcome you - my partner's mum is half Jewish on her father's side, wasn't raised Jewish but identifies as Jewish & had a 'confirmation' of her identity in a Liberal synagogue & is deeply invovled

[Frances Ryan @DrFrancesRyan]

“If you are not disabled and you regularly go to a yoga class, a book group or just the pub, when was the last time you did so with even a single disabled adult present?”

Thanks to @johnharris1969 for being one of the rare columnists to ask these Qs. https://t.co/C2fRPaxEls