How this visually impaired engineer uses Claude Code to make his life more accessible | Joe McCormick
Episode
49 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Productivity, Remote Work, Fundraising & VC
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Chrome Extension Development with Claude Skills: McCormick built a reusable Claude skill after creating two Chrome extensions, extracting common patterns to accelerate future builds. Each subsequent extension takes half the time of the previous one, with the third taking 25 minutes versus potentially hours initially. He uses symbolic links for shared configuration files like API keys across all extensions to enable one-change-updates-everywhere maintenance.
- ✓Control-G Prompt Editing in Claude Code: Claude Code's control-G shortcut opens prompts and plans in a text editor instead of the terminal, enabling screen reader navigation, control-F searching, and direct editing. This eliminates inefficient back-and-forth prompting where users describe changes verbally. Users can modify plans directly in code, save, and close to immediately execute the updated version without re-prompting.
- ✓Keyboard Shortcuts for Latency Reduction: McCormick assigns control-shift-D for image descriptions, control-shift-S for spell checking, and control-shift-1 for link summarization in Slack. These single-keystroke triggers eliminate multiple clicks and context switching, reducing task completion from minutes to five-to-ten seconds. He prioritizes building the drill over using Swiss army knife solutions like AI browsers that work but operate slower.
- ✓Custom Slash Commands for Technical Constraints: Running Claude Code in Windows Subsystem for Linux blocks clipboard access, so McCormick created a paste-image slash command using PowerShell to extract screenshots from Windows clipboard and share with Claude. This replaced a manual workflow of saving files in Windows, moving to Linux, and importing with at-mentions, saving two minutes per screenshot across daily development work.
- ✓Accessibility Through Foundation Model Prompts: Foundation models like GPT-4 and Claude generate highly accessible code when explicitly prompted because accessibility standards like ARIA roles are well-documented in training data. McCormick requests screen-reader-accessible modals with proper focus management, and models correctly implement specifications out-of-the-box. This eliminates need for specialized accessibility expertise when building personal software tools.
What It Covers
Joe McCormick, principal software engineer at Babylist with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, demonstrates building Chrome extensions with Claude Code to improve accessibility. He creates tools like image description for Slack messages, spell checkers, and link summarizers in under 25 minutes each, using keyboard shortcuts, screen readers, and custom Claude skills to streamline his workflow.
Key Questions Answered
- •Chrome Extension Development with Claude Skills: McCormick built a reusable Claude skill after creating two Chrome extensions, extracting common patterns to accelerate future builds. Each subsequent extension takes half the time of the previous one, with the third taking 25 minutes versus potentially hours initially. He uses symbolic links for shared configuration files like API keys across all extensions to enable one-change-updates-everywhere maintenance.
- •Control-G Prompt Editing in Claude Code: Claude Code's control-G shortcut opens prompts and plans in a text editor instead of the terminal, enabling screen reader navigation, control-F searching, and direct editing. This eliminates inefficient back-and-forth prompting where users describe changes verbally. Users can modify plans directly in code, save, and close to immediately execute the updated version without re-prompting.
- •Keyboard Shortcuts for Latency Reduction: McCormick assigns control-shift-D for image descriptions, control-shift-S for spell checking, and control-shift-1 for link summarization in Slack. These single-keystroke triggers eliminate multiple clicks and context switching, reducing task completion from minutes to five-to-ten seconds. He prioritizes building the drill over using Swiss army knife solutions like AI browsers that work but operate slower.
- •Custom Slash Commands for Technical Constraints: Running Claude Code in Windows Subsystem for Linux blocks clipboard access, so McCormick created a paste-image slash command using PowerShell to extract screenshots from Windows clipboard and share with Claude. This replaced a manual workflow of saving files in Windows, moving to Linux, and importing with at-mentions, saving two minutes per screenshot across daily development work.
- •Accessibility Through Foundation Model Prompts: Foundation models like GPT-4 and Claude generate highly accessible code when explicitly prompted because accessibility standards like ARIA roles are well-documented in training data. McCormick requests screen-reader-accessible modals with proper focus management, and models correctly implement specifications out-of-the-box. This eliminates need for specialized accessibility expertise when building personal software tools.
Notable Moment
McCormick shares how Gemini's live screen sharing enables him to read any book with his three-year-old son Cole by turning pages and saying next page, with Gemini reading aloud. This transforms a feared limitation into capability, replacing memorized stories with genuine shared reading experiences that previously seemed impossible without learning Braille as an adult.
Episode Transcript
Right before I started college, I ended up losing most of my central vision due to a rare genetic disorder called Lieber's hereditary optic neuropathy. I was talking with someone who was losing their sight recently from the same disease, and they were asking about different things. And I was like, oh, you can just do all of that now. But Gemini or Adaptability, the world is a whole lot easier. So you're gonna show us some of the things that you've built for yourself. So when someone sends me an image, I use this tool to be able to get the gist of an image without needing to ask somebody to explain it to me. If I hit control shift d on any message, it's gonna pop up and go off and describe that image for me. And the cool thing is I can go ask some follow ups. What age child is this for? And it will head off to Chat BT and get the response for this as well. I'm curious for you. What are you most excited about in the multimodal world of AI? One thing that I was always afraid of, can I read stories? I can memorize stories. I can tell stories. But your son being like, I wanna read this book. And you having to be like, sorry, I can't. And now that sorry, I can't becomes sorry, I can with the assistance of so many different tools now. Welcome back to How I AI. I'm Claire Vaux, product leader and AI obsessive here on a mission to help you build better with these new tools. Today, we have Joe McCormick, principal software engineer at Babylist who has a vision impairment, and he's gonna show us how he uses AI to build micro Chrome apps to make his everyday life and work a lot more accessible. You're gonna learn how to use cloud code to write Chrome apps, and you're gonna be inspired at the little things you can do to make your own Slack a little bit more efficient. Let's get to it. This episode is brought to you by Tynes, the intelligent workflow platform powering the world's most important work. Business moves faster than the systems meant to support it. Teams are stuck with repetitive tasks, scattered tools, and hard to reach data. AI has huge promise but struggles when everything underneath is fragmented. Times fixes that. It unifies your tools, data, and processes in one secure, flexible platform, blending a jet tech AI, automation, and human led intervention. Teams get their time back, workflows run smarter, and AI actually delivers real value. Customers now automate over 1,500,000,000 actions every week. Tynes is trusted by companies like Canva, Coinbase, Databricks, GitLab, Mars, and Reddit. Try tynes@ times.com/howiai. Jo, thanks for joining How I a I. And I want you to spend a little bit of time introducing yourself and your story and how AI has impacted your ability to do work …
Get the full transcript (9,672 words) + summary by email — free
One-time email with the complete transcript and AI summary of this episode. No account needed.
One email, no spam. We’ll also show you what SignalCast does.
You just read a 3-minute summary of a 46-minute episode.
Get How I AI summarized like this every Monday — plus up to 2 more podcasts, free.
Pick Your Podcasts — FreeKeep Reading
More from How I AI
Build your own company brain: the enterprise AI playbook from Stripe’s engineering team | Sharadh Krishnamurthy
Sep 7 · 50 min
Software Engineering Daily
Airbnb’s Open-Source GraphQL Framework with Adam Miskiewicz
Feb 5
More from How I AI
GPT-6 Astra is a banger - here’s everything I’ve built
Sep 3 · 32 min
Software Engineering Daily
SED News: The NVIDIA-Hugging Face Deal, China’s Proxy Economy, the Open Weight Surge
Sep 8
Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode
SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links.
Tools
- Chrome ExtensionsRecommended
by Google
“Joe McCormick, principal software engineer at Babylist with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, demonstrates building Chrome extensions with Claude Code to improve accessibility. He creates tools like image description for Slack messages, spell checkers, and link summarizers in under 25 minutes each.”
by Slack
“He creates tools like image description for Slack messages, spell checkers, and link summarizers in under 25 minutes each. McCormick assigns control-shift-D for image descriptions, control-shift-S for spell checking, and control-shift-1 for link summarization in Slack.”
- GeminiRecommended
by Google
“McCormick shares how Gemini's live screen sharing enables him to read any book with his three-year-old son Cole by turning pages and saying next page, with Gemini reading aloud.”
by OpenAI
“Foundation models like GPT-4 and Claude generate highly accessible code when explicitly prompted because accessibility standards like ARIA roles are well-documented in training data.”
- Claude CodeRecommended
by Anthropic
“Joe McCormick, principal software engineer at Babylist with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, demonstrates building Chrome extensions with Claude Code to improve accessibility. Claude Code's control-G shortcut opens prompts and plans in a text editor instead of the terminal, enabling screen reader navigation, control-F searching, and direct editing.”
by Microsoft
“Running Claude Code in Windows Subsystem for Linux blocks clipboard access, so McCormick created a paste-image slash command using PowerShell to extract screenshots from Windows clipboard and share with Claude.”
More from How I AI
We summarize every new episode. Want them in your inbox?
Build your own company brain: the enterprise AI playbook from Stripe’s engineering team | Sharadh Krishnamurthy
GPT-6 Astra is a banger - here’s everything I’ve built
Grok Bot vs. OpenClaw: How I replaced my entire agent stack
How I turned Claude into a self-improving PM assistant | Daniel Blum (PM, Melio)
I spent $20,000 on Devin in a month. Here’s what I learned | Ryan Carson (solo founder)
Similar Episodes
Related episodes from other podcasts
Software Engineering Daily
Feb 5
Airbnb’s Open-Source GraphQL Framework with Adam Miskiewicz
Software Engineering Daily
Sep 8
SED News: The NVIDIA-Hugging Face Deal, China’s Proxy Economy, the Open Weight Surge
20VC (20 Minute VC)
Sep 5
20VC: How to Build Your Own Data Center & Why Every Startup Should Do It | How ElevenLabs Leapfrogged Us: What I Learned | The AI Talent War: How Your Hiring Process Needs to Change with Cliff Weitzman, Speechify
The AI Breakdown
Sep 3
Agentic Loops for Knowledge Workers
The AI Breakdown
Aug 29
How to Start AI Coding If You Haven’t Yet
Explore Related Topics
This podcast is featured in Best AI Podcasts (2026) — ranked and reviewed with AI summaries.
You're clearly into How I AI.
Every Monday, we deliver AI summaries of the latest episodes from How I AI and 192+ other podcasts. Free for one show.
Start My Monday DigestNo credit card · Unsubscribe anytime