greemp t1_itt3e5m wrote on October 26, 2022 at 2:32 AM

Reply to comment by literary-chickens in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363

Wouldn't it be better to create more space for people? If roads were narrowed, there would be more space for wider sidewalks allowing people with mobility issues to actually use wheelchairs on sidewalks. Ever tried to use a wheelchair outside main business thoroughfares? It's impossible in this city, which forces people into their cars. It's important to realize that encouraging those who are able to cycle and use public transport creates more space for those who absolutely need to use cars. This is not ableist in the slightest. The opposite in fact.

literary-chickens t1_itxtds2 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 2:14 AM

Sure, of course! Dude, I'm on your side! I meant that the overall rhetoric we use around bikes and cars can be moralizing in a way that makes it sound like disabled lives don't matter. "Down with cars, everybody bikes" is alienating and isolating to people with different realities. (I know you're not saying that, but people do.) It doesn't have to be disabled folks; think about young children or families, for a different example. I agree that it's not ableist to encourage and uplift public transport and biking. I'll vote for such policies every time. But the vitriol and condescension toward cars--it's neither righteous nor kind.