Ryan Roach: To start, could you let us know your name and how you identify?

Sky Cubacub: I’m Sky Cubacub and I use they/them pronouns. I identify as disabled. I have non-apparent disabilities. I have anxiety, panic disorder, depression, CPTSD62, and other mental illnesses, along with polycystic ovarian syndrome and a mysterious stomach disorder that is still undiagnosed, annoyingly. I am non-binary, I’m queer. I’m half Filipinx, half white. [Laughs]

RR: What has your experience been like during the pandemic?

SC: Well, I’ve had mono since December, so that’s been interesting to have [laughs] during the pandemic ‘cause I already was kinda quarantining. Not on purpose, just out of not being able to be awake for more than like two or four hours at a time.

So the first couple months of the pandemic I was really asleep. But when I started to get a little bit more energy, when my mono was getting a little bit better, I started making facemasks. I was especially interested in making the clear-window facemasks. I had to test it for a couple months, ya know, to make sure that they were good. Everybody kept on being like, “Put it up right now!” But I don’t like selling anything before I’ve tested them, and I wanted to work on having a lot of different accessible attachment styles. In the first week that I had them up, I already had two articles written about them. And so I’ve just been working on those orders ever since.

RR: Do you have any accommodations, supports, or outside needs that were interrupted by the pandemic? And, if so, what did that look like for you?

SC: A lot of the pandemic is actually a lot more accessible to me [laughs] than usual because I have sensory sensitivity. I have environmental illness/multiple chemical sensitivities, whatever you wanna call it, but so wearing the masks all the time is actually so much better for my allergies. And also not having anybody get close. I didn’t really know how extreme my multiple chemical sensitivities were until I was in college because I just thought it was normal to have all unscented things. But then all of a sudden everybody, like, loved incense in their dorm rooms or something. I was like, “I am dying. I cannot think anymore ‘cause my brain is so foggy.” So it’s kinda a lot more accessible for me. And also, you know, I already had air purifiers running a bit. But now I just get an excuse to be like, “I need ten air purifiers.” So now I can breathe so well. [Laughs].

RR: During the pandemic, the government and media have deemed the chronically ill, disabled, and immunocompromised communities as “vulnerable.” What are your thoughts on the terminology of “vulnerable”?

SC: [Sighs]. I mean, I feel like I’ve seen less stuff about “vulnerable” and more the attitude of vulnerable being expendable. I’m fine, like, generally with the word “vulnerable” ‘cause I like the word “vulnerable.” But I think it being equated to expendable is really disgusting. So I guess I find that part of the media completely distressing. I mean, I know most of my friends in the disability community, including myself, it seems to me like this is a genocide. I mean, it’s very obvious – not seems – that it is a genocide.

RR: And touching on the topic of this being a genocide, what are your thoughts on how the government and the media have been treating these populations that they have deemed “vulnerable”?

SC: I mean, extremely disgusting. I just – I fucking hate Trump. I think he’s evil and I hope he dies. I do not apologize for that. He has killed so many people, it doesn’t matter. I hope that COVID takes him. I just feel like the past couple years have been such a set up for all of this. And it seems as soon as Trump said he was going to run for president, I immediately knew he was going to be president. I did not have any of that, “Oh no, somebody else is gonna be president ‘cause it’s too ridiculous.” But, ya know, everything is ridiculous. The world is ridiculous. So like obviously he’s gonna be president. Also the U.S. has a history of voting for celebrities, ‘cause, like, duh. We like celebrities for some reason even if they literally know nothing about anything. So I’m pretty sure that he’s gonna win again. Which is extremely distressing. Also, I didn’t mean to be like the pandemic is great for me, but the precautions I think are good for me. Like, definitely even if they figure stuff out, like, I’m probably gonna still wear masks all the time in public. I mean, I got mono in December, and I still have no clue how I got mono. But like, besides the mono, I haven’t gotten sick at all since, or besides, that. I feel like I usually get sick pretty often, so I feel like this is just healthier for me. But I don’t know. Sorry, now I’m so upset thinking about Trump. [Laughs].

RR: No, it’s honestly upsetting. I’m actually in D.C. right now and he’s holding an event tomorrow, and just knowing it’s happening in the city is – it makes me so confused and nervous. It’s a wild administration. I guess touching on the administration and media correspondents, a lot of their messaging the past few months has really focused – and they’ve kinda done this already – has really focused on reopening the economy while sacrificing populations they deem “vulnerable.” And they keep having this conversation about so-called “vulnerable” populations, yet invite no one from these communities to speak for themselves. Why do you think that is?

SC: Because, I mean, they’ve always dehumanized us, so why would they ever start? [Laughs]. They don’t care, it doesn’t matter to them. They think that disabled folx and POC folx are expendable. I would never expect them to invite us into the conversation in any way. I don’t know, I’m just ready for no more presidents at all. Like, completely just tear it down. I mean, I’ve wanted that forever [laughs] but especially now.

RR: No, that’s definitely what we need.

SC: Yeah, I just feel like it’s the only option. Just get rid of the presidency fully. One person shouldn’t have that much power in general. I mean, even a group of people shouldn’t have that much power.

RR: During the pandemic, society has been able to accommodate the general public with accommodations, like work from home, that have been asked for previously by the disabled, chronically ill, immunocompromised, and neurodiverse communities, yet these communities were typically denied. Why do you think society has been able to accommodate the general public when these accommodations have been denied previously?

SC: I mean, now because able-bodied folx are being affected, so they’re like, “Oh, of course we can do it.” Like, of course you can do it, but you could have done it before. But they want it to be exclusive so that school wasn’t too accessible to people of marginalized identities. And they wanted to make it so we could never advance enough to be able to overthrow them.