By: Anna Zivarts (she/her), Disability Mobility Initiative Director
Transportation emissions are 44.6 percent of Washington State’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of which come from gas-powered cars. From a climate perspective, switching to electric vehicles is not enough. We have to limit how much we drive every day if we are to reduce our climate emissions to survivable levels. Simply put, transportation is one of our biggest opportunities to combat the climate crisis.
So as we envision a society that is less reliant on driving, who better to learn from than people who aren’t driving?
Our country has been designed around the automobile as transportation, and for those who cannot drive or cannot afford to drive, this creates major barriers to accessing school, jobs, medical care, grocery stores, religious services, and everywhere else one needs to go in order to participate fully in our communities.
For folks who cannot drive or cannot afford to drive, we must figure out how to survive without a car. It’s about making sure your job and childcare fall along the same route. It’s about knowing which route through your neighborhood has curb ramps for your grocery cart. It’s about knowing exactly how much groceries you can fit in that cart, and what times of day the bus will most likely have room. It is experiences and stories like these that need to be uplifted during talks about transportation and combating the climate crisis.
This is why we’re starting The Disability Mobility Initiative, a new organizing and storytelling program at Disability Rights Washington. We’re building connections and building power in communities across Washington State because we believe our elected leaders need to hear from people who don’t have access to cars.
A quarter of Washingtonians don’t have driver’s licenses, and the cost of purchasing and maintaining a vehicle means many others rely on other means of transportation. In particular,, Black, Indigenous and people of color, immigrants, poor people, elderly and disabled people are much less likely to have a driver's license or access to cars, we are more likely to be transit reliant and more likely to walk or roll for transportation.
As our elected leaders approach how to prioritize spending needs in the next transportation budget, it is critical they understand the current state of transportation access and equity in their districts. If you’re interested in being involved, please fill out this short form. Together, we can shift the narrative that only drivers in Washington State have mobility needs worth prioritizing!