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

meganL

@[email protected]

Disabled. MSc in Hort & Ag 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

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@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Man, it is deeply disappointing to see a student journalist parrot stuff like:

"Kirk, whose Christian beliefs were central to his political opinions, publicly opposed LGBTQ+ rights and encouraged women to forgo their careers to get married and have children."

You'll find Christ didn't say anything about those subjects.

When media repeats crap like this, it gives violent people something to hide behind. Student journalists should be learning better journalism than carrying water.

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

I'm a solo, low income, disabled older woman and have been without accessible independent transportation for about a year now. It will cost at least $8K to get something that meets my access needs.

Today is and every person who buys my music with a big tip is helping me get to that goal of better health, more independence, and travel freedom!

Thanks to all the kind Mastodonians who've already done this!

https://meganlynch.bandcamp.com/album/songs-the-brothers-warner-taught-me

"Bandcamp Friday - February 6" Image flier with blue stylized flower shape on a yellow field. I have modified it with a photo of the Azub Tricon GR, which is one of the models that could work for me. It is a folding recumbent tricycle in a tadpole shape (two wheels in front, one in back).
ALT
@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Angry Catfish bike shop is helping plan and promote a memorial ride this Saturday in Minneapolis, and assisting organizers around the country in holding their own events.

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/retail-news/2026/01/27/minneapolis-retailer-helping-plan-pretti-memorial-rides-nationwide

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Thousands of Quebec children with disabilities kept out of school due to lack of resources

Advocacy groups sound alarm after 3,417 students faced disrupted schooling in 2025

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-schooling-students-disabilities-9.7037145

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Mayor Zohran Mamdani Holds Press Conference to Make an Announcement

Safe Streets: Completing the redesign of McGuinness Blvd., Greenpoint, Brooklyn

It is unbelievably wholesome and hopeful the way these activists and organizers cheer each other on, hand the mic to one another, etc. May this spread!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9M9JvnKC0s

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

You know how Starbucks workers turn the credit card reader over to you when you're in the drive-thru, asking for a tip? I once asked the worker if they get all of that tip. They said management takes 50%.

If you cannot run your business with a living wage, you do not have a viable business plan. If you expand locations, you have $ to pay your workers a good wage. If you're a worldwide conglomerate & your workers are still unable to make it, it's just wage theft.

https://sbworkersunited.org/our-strike/

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Riding Middlebury with Larry! Stroke Survivor’s Adaptive Trike Journey (RAD Innovations)

Abled people: Please do not indulge in the kind of ableism Matt is by saying, "if this (disbled person) can do it, what's your excuse?" Disabled people don't exist to be soem kind of inspiration/motivation for abled people. More reasoning in replies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBWgAPFZGa8 @bikenite

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Someone who has more up-to-date music review chops than I do should construct a chart of singing styles that have dominated US/UK charts in the last 30 years.

To my ears, there are a lot of styles that are derivative of Billie Holliday. And then there's the domination of very technical melismatic singing, although I don't know enough to know whether it's Mariah Carey or others they're imitating.

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Gen AI, the proof that many workers wouldn't stand by workers who happen to create illustrations, photos, videos, animation, voiceover, music, etc. And by allowing their envy of creative workers to be used to keep creative workers down, they therefore opened the door to losing their own jobs....

ai6yr ,
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

@meganL Yep... no respect for creators

meganL OP ,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr People loved hearing how superior they were to creatives "underwater basketweaving"... So easy to buy their cooperation in their own eventual undoing.

All you have to do is see how eager everyone is to use images, VO, and music when they don't have to pay for it. Network media even does it and they have plenty of $ to pay, so it's not like it only happens among those who couldn't otherwise afford to pay creative laborers.

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

My friends who travel as couples rarely believe me when I talk about how much I get punished for being single.

Our society has financial punishments for not being in a pair or a family group.

(United and Delta, but not American later backed off this when news outlets picked up on this blog story.)

https://thriftytraveler.com/news/airlines/airlines-charging-solo-travelers-higher-fares/

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Boy, do ableist institutions love disabled outliers who "overcome adversity" without the institution having to become accessible to all the public.

One more motivational speaking engagement, one more "inspirational" event they can use for PR without ever having to change a goddamned thing about the ableist status quo... It's perfect for their purposes.

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Australian in Olympics protest to get apology

13 year old reporting, but Working Class History made me revisit it.

Australian Peter Norman stood with Americans John Carlos and Tommie Smith in an iconic image of protest from the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games and was snubbed for it but is now getting a posthumous apology from Federal Parliament.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yTLT0mv90w

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Several times a day, if not several times an hour, I see people using "sane" as some sort of synonym for ethical and "insane" as some sort of synonym for unethical.

Think of what you're saying here - instead of grappling with the idea that abled people can do harmful and/or evil things, the moment some threshhold of evil is passed, you simply label them "insane".

This equates disability with evil, and equates being abled with virtue. It's a rhetorical frame to keep you comfortable.

meganL OP ,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

If someone is "abled" up until the moment you finally agree they're acting unethically or evilly, at which point they are "insane", that's an awfully convenient rhetorical frame for you.

It keeps you from having to grapple with the banality of evil. It is so much more threatening to our egos to imagine that we too could be unethical and harming people. When one is abled or abled-identified, it is easy to simply say "them" and chalk it up to "insanity". It's not that we could ever be evil.

@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Just by reading an LA Times story now, you supposedly agree to this.

Alert with the only choice being a button that says "Continue". It appears over a news story I've just clicked to, even within Internet Archive. "By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver, and our Privacy Policy. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads."
ALT
@meganL@mas.to avatar meganL , to random

Question for the geezers here:

What materials do you remember seeing food, drink, and other things packaged in before mylar and other plastics took over?

Would you start buy things packaged in more sustainable old methods if it were more widely available, even if it cost a few cents more?

JessTheUnstill ,
@JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchange avatar

@meganL A lot of things were in foil or glass or canned I know.