Getting stuck in my wheelchair isn’t safe or fun. Quit neglecting Washington sidewalks

I live in Tacoma and use a manual wheelchair. To get around, I rely a lot on transit, especially when my caregiver isn’t available to give me rides (though right now because of COVID-19 I’ve been trying to limit how much I ride the bus).

The biggest barrier I face is the lack of accessible sidewalks and crossings, especially around bus stops.

Once I was trying to get to a Kmart on South Tacoma Way. The bus dropped me off across the street. The sidewalk was fine, but when I turned to go down toward the crosswalk, the sidewalk turned into loose gravel.

My wheelchair’s small tires dug in and I couldn’t push myself out. I could see across the street to where I was trying to go, but I couldn’t get to the crosswalk. I had to call my sister to come help get me unstuck.

I often have to roll into the street into oncoming traffic because there aren’t curb ramps at many intersections. And some bus routes stop on inclines. How is a wheelchair user supposed to wait at that bus stop without rolling backwards?

Or maybe the incline will be on grass. How do you expect me to get on grass and then the ramp to board the bus when I’m already inclined in the weirdest position?

Sometimes the push buttons to activate the crossing signal will be placed in a way that I can’t possibly reach them - for instance, when I get off at the bus stop at 40th and Bridgeport.

We need to start thinking about public transportation and sidewalks as blending together instead of as two separate things. You can’t use the bus if you can’t get yourself to the bus stop.

Historically redlined areas often have the most inaccessible infrastructure. I nearly got hit on two different occasions when I was trying to use the bus stop at Orchard and 56th. There was sidewalk on only one side of the street, so I would either have to roll in the street with traffic, or cross in an unsafe place to get to the sidewalk.

Finally, the City of Tacoma built the sidewalk. But there are many other places in our city that remain dangerous and inaccessible.

We know that Black, Indigenous and people of color (“BIPOC”), immigrants, poor people, elderly and disabled people are much less likely to have a driver license or access to cars; we are more likely to be transit reliant and to walk or roll for transportation.

At the same time, BIPOC, disabled and elderly people, and people living in rural areas and on tribal lands face greater risks of death in traffic collisions because our communities lack accessible pedestrian and transit infrastructure.

This is compounded by the suburbanization of poverty. People of color, immigrants and low-income disabled people are much more likely to live in areas with higher speed roads, fewer sidewalks, streetlights or crosswalks, and less frequent and reliable transit routes.

In my ideal community, sidewalks would have no cracks, private as well as public spaces would be accessible, and so would all taxi services. In addition, bus routes would be placed to avoid barriers for wheelchair users and to make sure it was easy to board and get off the bus.

As our elected leaders in Olympia discuss how to invest in the future of our transportation system, I want them to consider the perspective of people who can’t drive.

People without driver’s licenses make up 25 percent of the population, and we know that in this moment of economic crisis, there are many others who can’t afford to own or drive a vehicle.

As we move towards a post-COVID recovery, we need to be able to get around, to visit friends and family, go shopping and get outdoors. We need accessible sidewalks and transit stops in every single community.

Let’s make sure our state transportation funding priorities reflect this.

Krystal Monteros of Tacoma is the president of the Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities has an Associates degree in sociology from Tacoma Community College. She worked with Disability Rights Washington to successfully advocate for construction of missing sidewalk near the Pierce County Annex, site of the county’s accessible voting center.