Inside the Little Plastic Castle

I’m seeing more progress pride flags flying in my neighborhood. In the poll, I’m using “queer” in the broadest possible sense: any (sexual or gender) (orientation or preference). The poll is anonymous—even I can’t see who voted how.

( Progress Pride Flag )

Thanks to runpunkrun for pointing me to ElectricAlice’s amazing AO3 skin tutorial for dyslexic readers: both desktop and mobile versions, light and dark.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30918077

ElectricAlice walks you through every change, and sensibly hosts the code on GitHub (so it can be quickly/updated and maintain its comments, which AO3 reportedly strips from CSS you use in work skins).

This highly commented code requires almost zero understanding to modify the font, font size, spacing between lines, paragraphs, and characters, text width for body, comments, and blurbs.

Coincidentally, I’ve been loving a new sans serif font, which is now my default on browser and ereaders (where possible).

Easier Reading Anywhere with Atkinson Hyperlegible

The Braille Institute, in Los Angeles, has designed and released a new, free OpenType font called Atkinson Hyperlegible:

https://brailleinstitute.org/freefont

Atkinson Hyperlegible is a neo-grotesque typeface for the Braille Institute of America, Inc. Applied Design fulfilled the brief to increase legibility for readers with low vision. They also improved character recognition — making it easy to distinguish zeroes and uppercase Os, Es and Fs, ones, uppercase Is and lowercase ls

And because the universe is filled with type geeks, someone’s attempted a monospace version

( screenshot of this entry demonstrate legibility )

So the next step is … modifying the Dyslexic AO3 Skin for large print readers. I’m pretty confident I’m capable of this, and will announce when complete.

I got a kick when I saw this "maintain 6 feet social distance" sign -- a wheelchair user is among the six folks sharing the path. Thank you to Public Health Madison & Dane County (Wisconsin) for inclusive design. It was a lovely trip on the Lower Yahara River trail, a ten-foot wide asphalt and boardwalk path that wanders through a marsh (remediated landfill) and then parallels a railroad line between two of our lakes.

( sign photo )

( full description in the cut )

I adored this essay by Heather Sellers, who is face-blind and place-blind. Sellers teaches creative writing and her craft is A++. This essay explores:

• wayfinding
• accommodations
• self-compassion
• coming out as disabled
• the possibility & joy of later life learning

Where Am I? from Longreads

( 225 word excerpt from 8000-word essay )

On a completely different topic, Pedal Pedal Pedal in The Sun gloriously evokes the power and freedom of bike riding. Her well-organized website has tons more.

on Metafilter

https://www.metafilter.com/179906/Transporting-Fabrics

Best bit: Berlin's transit system commissioned adidas to make 500 pairs of custom shoes incorporating their distinctive seat fabric. They sold out quick: wearers rode without having to pay a fare for a year.

I'll admit that, while I'm a dedicated public transit rider, I bring my own (exceptionally comfortable) seat, so this a visual-aesthetic issue for me.

( the details, including four thumbnail photos )

So even though the climate is lovely, and the bus lines are all accessible, traveling independently requires knowing what the sidewalks are like, both origin and destination. Given my memory issues, I’d be stuck using paratransit here for probably a year.

Jarrett Walker is a public transit designer/consultant/guru.

His latest blog, addressing "elite projection," turned on a very large light over my head. The people who determine policy are mostly members of a distinct elite. By definition, that perspective and experience is a small minority. When the topic is mass transit design, elite projection often creates unworkable systems.

begin quote

In challenging elite projection, I am being utterly unreasonable. I am calling upon elites to meet a superhuman standard. Almost everyone refers to their own experience when discussing policy. Who doesn’t want their experience to be acknowledged? But in a society where elites have disproportionate power, the superhuman task of resisting elite projection must be their work. And since I’m one of these elites — not at all in wealth but certainly in education and other kinds of good fortune — it’s sometimes my work as well. Like all attempts to be better people, it’s utterly exhausting and we’ll never get it right. That means the critique of elite projection can’t just take the form of rage. It also has to be empathic and forgiving.

quote ends

http://humantransit.org/2017/07/the-dangers-of-elite-projection.html

This is not only good advice for transit planning, but highlights why many "the market works better than the private ETA: public sector" schemes are only gratifying the very top of the market.