For disabled people who can afford an accessible vehicle or a driver, sidewalks may be less of a barrier. But for disabled people who rely on walking, rolling and transit to get our needs met, sidewalks matter and every barrier — every dirt path where there should be a sidewalk, missing curb ramp or massive root uplift, feels like a sign that our needs and desires to be part of community aren’t seen as valid. Our organizing channels this lived experience, and our anger and frustration at these barriers, into action.
Nondrivers Alliance grew out of transportation storytelling and organizing work at the Rooted in Rights and Disability Mobility Initiative projects at Disability Rights Washington, where we created a groundbreaking storymap to make visible the stories of nondrivers, shifting the narrative that our mobility needs are equally valid.
Through our organizing, we got missing sidewalks built to a voting center and youth service provider, secured increased funding for sidewalks and transit, and successfully pushed for Washington State and the City of Seattle to adopt complete streets policies. In 2024, we successfully fought for sidewalk funding in the 2024 Seattle Transportation levy.
Unfortunately, the scale of funding needed to fully build out and repair Seattle’s sidewalk network does not currently exist. Thanks to our advocacy with allies, the city agreed to create a transportation funding task force that will start to convene in 2026 to make recommendations on additional funding sources. We need to continue to organize to ensure the recommendations coming out of this task force meet our needs and that our mayor, councilmembers, and our transportation department prioritize sidewalk access.