@meganL@mas.to
@meganL@mas.to avatar

meganL

@meganL@mas.to

Disabled Masters student @ UC Davis. Speaker on Accessibility in Higher Ed/Cycling/Plant Science. Speaker on carob.

#Accessibility #Botany #Cycling #SciComm #NoBot #NoBridge

Most of my posts are not asking for advice so please don't offer it unsolicited. When I'm asking for advice, I usually ask quite explicitly.

Banner = 2 UC Access Now buttons, with a seal that's a parody of the University of California's. It says "Let There Be Access > ADA" Profile = HG Peters drawing of Wonder Woman

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

meganL, to cycling
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🧵 A phenomenon keeps happening both online & in person that angers, saddens, & devalues me. So I'm attempting to explain why it has this effect & what I'd hope people would do instead.

When I arrived at UC Davis to prepare to start grad school in summer 2019, I found the first of many damaging ableisms - the cycle racks were not accessible to the types of cycles I ride. Yet I'd be cited & my bike impounded if I didn't park there. 1/? #Cycling #UCAccessNow #BikeTooter #Urbanism

meganL, to cycling
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I was reflecting yesterday on how many cyclists on the UC Davis campus I saw doing the same self-centered, unsafe things I see drivers do.

And I know it's because most are drivers who are self-centered, and reckless.

I reflected on how, if we want more people to leave cars at home, we're going to be dealing with exactly this unless we find a way to educate, carrot & stick safer, more community-minded culture in new cyclists.

meganL, to random
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I see stuff I'd boost except for the fact that it uses ableist framings like "insane" for capitalism, greed, etc.

Learn to call it what it is. The reason insanity is a legal defense is because it is a mental disability one does not choose that affects one's ability to judge.

That is not the case with what many "progressives" are labeling "insane". Find non-ableist and more accurate ways of labeling what billionaires are doing.

meganL, to accessibility
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🧵 Even before I formed @ucaccessnow, I persisted through campus channels trying to get them to acknowledge that cycle racks ALSO have to be accessible, not car parking spaces. After months of brick walls with UC and my union, I got a meeting with the head of UC Davis TAPS, who

@fedibikes @disability @bikenite #UCAccessNow #Accessibility #Cycling #CycleParkingAudit

meganL, to random
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Community participation:

What are your favorite non-monopoly places to shop online? Bonus if they're actually also really cool businesses?

Help folks discover non-Amazon, non-Walmart stores!

Ones I use include:

American Science & Surplus: https://sciplus.com/

Stonemountain & Daughter https://stonemountainfabric.com/

Davis Food Co-op (not mail order, but you can still do "curbside" pick-up) https://davisfood.coop/

meganL, to Trains
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The new account timeline feels so empty, so pardon me while I furnish it with this @Vox infographic of how the US had somewhat decent passenger rail and got rid of most of it. #Trains #Transportation #CarCentrism

"The decline of passenger railway service in the US 1962 - 2006" A line map of the continental US in white on grey. A fast-moving 48-frame animated GIF shows lines that are Non-Amtrak, have service less than daily, service daily, service 3+ times daily, and service 6+ times daily. The source is the National Association of Railway Passengers. The initial frame shows service > 6x/day on much of the East Coast, routes in Chicago and major Midwestern cities as well as routes from LA to Las Vegas and from SF to Sacramento in California. Much of the rest of the map has major routes going 3x daily and more that are less frequent. Even having been reduced by 1962, it's still remarkably good coverage of a large nation. It drops off hard by 1967, and even more by 1971. Some lines are restored by 1975, likely in response to the OPEC crisis, but start to get reversed again after Reagan is elected. But it never goes back to the relatively good coverage of 1962. It is still largely 6x/day or more on popular commuter lines in New England, Chicago to Milwaukee, LA to San Diego, and SF to Sacramento.

meganL, to random
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My top-performing post on LinkedIn:

#Labor

meganL, to cycling
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Wooden removable bollards put in places to protect human life.

Metal permanent bollards put at a corner of a building to protect property.

This is what "Platinum Bike-Friendly" looks like at UC Davis.

@cycling

meganL, to random
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Accessibility tip:

If you don't use a screenreader to access the internet, you may be unaware that case matters in hashtags. Sadly, Mastodon tends to lower case them even when you're trying to camel case them.

If you lower case a multiword hashtag, the screenreader reads it like it's one word - making gibberish out of it. If you camel case it (capitalize the start of each word even though you're not spacing between words), the screenreader can differentiate the words.

>

meganL, to cycling
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6IQyIcYsX0 #Cycling #BikeTooter #BayArea

meganL, to random
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I see too many exchanges like this.

If you have an obligation to give attribution, do so in the text. By dumping it into alt text, you are communicating that it's somehow distracting for sighted folks, but it's ok to distract blind/low vision folks.

Then the conversation goes to how alt text can be automated. Because while folks can hand create text for sighted folks, they see it as a burden to do so for blind/low vision folks.

meganL, to random
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Slumlord management is planning on spraying Roundup because delaying on maintenance and only mowing maybe 2x a year is still too much work for them. They'd rather spray herbicide everywhere... #TrailerLife

meganL, to disability
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Question (with set-up) for disabled folks only:

My disability thought has been molded by the late, great DIsability Twitter. I didn't have time aside from grad school reading to read up on disability history and analysis. What are the best books/articles to read to introduce someone to disability history, ableism, and internalized ableism? Something not too dry or academic. I'm trying to make a recommendation to a newly disabled person with lots of I. A.

@disability @disabilityjustice

meganL, to sustainability
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Last week I noticed Davis Food Co-op was carrying Dr. Bronner's soap refills in cardboard cartons (less plastic, but still some). They were priced at $19.99, which seemed high to me for 32 oz.

Looks like Dr. Bronner's carries it on their site for $16.99 (presumbly with added shipping). https://www.drbronner.com/collections/all/products/peppermint-pure-castile-liquid-soap-refill

Today they're on sale at DFC for $10.99 to match the price of the 32oz bottle, which is also on sale. So I picked one up. #Sustainability

meganL, to random
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"What's a sidewalk?"

(I moved it after taking the photo for documentation of this crap. Sheesh.)

meganL, to random
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Something I've read of being a successful tactic in several primary sources from the '30s - '40s is using bureaucracy as much against a fascist state as they're trying to use it against you.

One of the traits that I feel helped get us where we are now is that people cede power far too easily. They despair or get cynical and just never try.

Bureaucratically drag your feet every chance you get to thwart shitty stuff. Not all resistance is the obvious stuff.

meganL, to random
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Public Storage has cut back on employees so that the office is only staffed about 1/3 of the time...and the schedule is not posted. They've now made it so you have to pay a "transaction fee" of up to $20 to pay your rent by phone.

The only convenient methods they're allowing for payment are paying via the website or via an app, both of which allow them the usual data mining.

Supposedly you can pay by mail to the local office as well, but I'm not sure... #Greed

meganL, to random
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Watching part of that video about coming changes to SSDI and SSI was enough to profoundly depress me.

I have no idea how to stay legal yet also survive in a society that is content to kill disabled people.

I disclosed as disabled very early on because I underestimated the extent to which people would really want to kill me if they knew I was disabled.

meganL, to cycling
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We have a big problem in #DavisCA with folks who pretend they're riding a e-assist cycle when they like those laws, only acting like a motor vehicle when they like those laws.

This guy illegally passed me on the right when the light turned green (right turn only lane), then pulled ahead and onto the cycle path. It's a Vespa-like motor scooter.

We have a place in town that calls itself AMP Bikes that sells these and food delivery now races along cycle paths and MUP. #BikeTooter #Cycling

meganL, to accessibility
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People would think horticulture has nothing to do with accessibility, but it does.

Planting an Acanthus in this narrow spot was already a bad choice even if there were no wheelchair ramp there. You have to design your landscape for the projected mature size of the plant, not the size it is when you buy it.

But having it here and not constantly trimming it means you're just performing accessibility.

This is the entrance to an art gallery. @plants

meganL, to random
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It's only supposed to get in the low 90s today, but I'm already getting a bit depressed about slogging through another long summer in a trailer in Davis. I do my best by putting reflective mylar on the exposed sides of the trailer, cooling the trailer at night if it's colder outside so I can start at a lower temp in the morning and delay having to use AC, but it's rough. It means having to force myself into a morning person to have any chance at outdoor activities.

meganL, to random
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I began the mildew hunt late today. I need to do it earlier in the morning when I can temporarily take clutter from inside the trailer and leave it outdoors to allow me to get at some cupboards and get them bleached & scrubbed.

I emptied the right closet out this morning but found the laundry hut being squatted on. So I hung the dry musty laundry on the line, hoping the sun & wind would help.

But I didn't clean out the closet at the time. Just tried now. Not as bad as it could be, but not fun.

meganL, to cycling
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I really wish I knew more about electricity/electronics. This is informative, but I'd get even more actionable info out of it if I knew electric stuff better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j92Gt4VviSQ #Cycling #BikeTooter

meganL, to random
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My entire adult life, the messaging from most politicians, echoed by media, has been urging austerity. Even when reporting surpluses.

Meanwhile the rich get astronomically richer, aren't taxed enough (or sometimes at all), are not made to pay back what they've stolen, etc.

It's remarkable how effective the messaging is in getting us to fight over crumbs instead of taking the resources meant for everyone away from the few greedy people who are hoarding them.

meganL, to cycling
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UCI really screwed things up for ergonomics when they outlawed recumbents in the 1930s.

"The press coverage kicked off a long-overdue conversation about women’s saddle issues and aired one of pro cycling’s open secrets: that some women suffer so much damage to their genital areas they resort to surgery—labiaplasty—to keep riding."

https://www.bicycling.com/health-nutrition/a60412469/cycling-saddle-pain-women-surgery/

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