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Peter Saathoff-Harshfield

pesh@mastodon.social

<p>Currently working on accessibility at Google Search. Views here are my own. Views through my eyes are only peripheral, as I have no central vision.</p><p>I advocate for public transportation and a built environment that&#39;s accessible to disabled people and moves us away from reliance on cars. I&#39;ve spent most of my life in the bay area.</p><p>Interests include jazz, other music, trains, cycling, photography, cooking, and Minecraft.</p>

Posts

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    Why in the world does Patreon’s mobile site block me with modal dialogs trying to get me to use their iOS app, when Apple takes a cut of transactions initiated in the app? The main reason I don’t use the app is because last I checked, it was atrociously inaccessible with VoiceOver. The mobile site isn’t great either, but it’s somewhat usable.

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    I’m getting responses from friends, who are surprised by how bad the NYC Subway is. Yes, it is this bad. https://mastodon.social/@pesh/116517685120486278

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    As of today, I again have not ridden the entire LA Metro Rail system because the D line was extended. Unfortunately this extension is a subway with massively overbuilt, mezzanine-encumbered stations. https://mastodon.social/@pesh/116196215869992624

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    Because I can’t see things in the distance, when I’m out taking photos, I often have no idea what I’ve captured until I can look at the photos on a big screen. I enjoy this photo from March when I checked out the newly-built OC Streetcar route. It shows how the new tracks undulate up onto this new bridge over the Santa Ana River, while the old bridge left over from the Pacific Electric West Santa Ana Branch is still there and is more correctly aligned with the right of way. #trains #transit

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    On the California Zephyr again #trains

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    @overcastfm@mastodon.social The big thing I’m missing after the rewrite is that one-tap play doesn’t work when VoiceOver is on (or after VoiceOver has been turned on, then off, until the app is relaunched). Related, all the things in the menu you get when activating an episode should be available as accessibility actions. Other VoiceOver users have been saying these things too.

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    The last thing I heard before I had to quit and relaunch VoiceOver on the Mac for the nth time today: “empty null”. MacOS is so much better to me than Windows in so many ways, so I can&amp;#39;t stomach switching to get a better screen reader, but VoiceOver tests my patience more than anything else in my life.

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    “Siri, good night.” All the lights turn off. “Good night… I tried, but some home accessories didn’t respond.” “Siri, which home accessories didn’t respond?” “All your accessories responded.”

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    @SteveFaulkner Hey Steve, I was just poking around on LinkedIn (probably inadvisable), and happened across your page, and noticed that the URL to your website has a typo, and therefore doesn&amp;#39;t work. I&amp;#39;ve been really enjoying the fireside chats, by the way.

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    That was quite a quake.

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    Apple covered the frosted glass stairs in the Union Square store with dark grey carpet and black rubber. What if these materials were to be installed on the software?

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    It seems to me that if a company wants to provide a transportation service to the public, it should be accessible to wheelchair rriders. https://bikeportland.org/2026/02/09/city-council-cold-on-robotaxi-bill-as-lawmakers-set-vote-for-next-week-399255

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    I&amp;#39;m excited that I&amp;#39;ve been selected to serve on the MTC-ABAG Community Advisory Council, representing disabled people. MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission) and ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) make decisions about housing and transportation across the 9 counties of the San Francisco bay area. Info on the council: https://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/committees/mtc-abag-community-advisory-council

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    Yet another reason not to update to macOS #Tahoe: Apple removed the ability to open multiple tabs in the Maps app. I use that all the time.

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    @BorrisInABox I’m only a few millimeters from buying a Move, mostly because of you. I think I’d need some tutorial or instructions though, especially for using the screen reader output thing, and I’m not even talking about Move Everything. How/where should I learn stuff?

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    @TheOverheadWire the story about drivers in Philadelphia being paid for speed bumps damaging their cars got me. I wish wheelchair riders could get paid whenever they have to roll over a bump in the sidewalk. Philly has a lot of bad ones. CC @Aubrie, who actually just had her chair damaged rolling up the ramp to Golden Gate Ferry.

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    If you share a video of a screen reader doing something, include the audio of the screen reader speaking. Do not just have a silent video with the speech captions shown. Otherwise, you’re preventing the very people who use screen readers from perceiving the video. 🤦 Mentioning this because I encountered this for probably the thousandth time today. #a11y