ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2020-10-10 02:11 pm
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Community Building Tip: Car-Free

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City.

44. Organize a local car-free day. Every September 22 cities around the world participate in a global Car-Free Day, showcasing the possibilities of a more progressive commute and the advantages of walkable streets and biking infrastructure. Want to be inspired? Check out 14 beautiful car-free cities.

Regrettably, neither of the sites seemed to say anything about accessibility.  Now if you're blind, not worrying about getting run over by a car could be a great thing.  But for anyone with mobility issues, more often than not "car-free" might as well be "on the Moon."  And it's not like we don't have solutions for that, I just didn't see anyone advertising things like palanquins for places where wheelchairs can't easily go.  So if you're lobbying for car-free areas, remember to make them accessible to everyone.  Even normally able-bodied people can be screwed the moment they break a foot, get pregnant, or have a baby carriage to push.
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)

Re: Thank you

[personal profile] dialecticdreamer 2020-10-10 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
It's so nice to have someone else saying the same THINGS. Different in the details, different suggested solutions, but the core idea is, "Hey, you're forgetting this whole group of people!"

THAT kind of inclusion is one of the reasons that I'd run to T-America if I had the chance.

Re: Thank you

(Anonymous) 2020-10-10 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
My volunteer thing often has 'Can you drive Jane to her appointment/to pick up her son/home, because her son doesn't feel well?'

(Someone also wanted to borrow my car to take a driving test once. I said no because insurance, plus short notice.)

I've also gotten 'Hey, can you take me grocery shopping after class*?
*class for adults that I volunteer at

Of course, if I am driving and you know where you are going I insist on intelligible directions of some sort.