Podcast Series: The Road Is the Sidewalk - Disability Rights Washington

two people waiting for a bus, one stands in loose gravel with a service dog, the other in a power wheelchair waits in the street

The Road is the Sidewalk is a five-part podcast series produced in collaboration with Zack Hurtz, a blind podcaster from Kitsap County, Washington.

In our advocacy work with nondrivers from communities throughout Washington State, we hear a lot about how inaccessible sidewalks, crossings and transit stops prevent us from accessing our communities. After the Americans With Disability Act passed more than 30 years ago, the cities and counties we live in should have developed plans about how they were going to address these barriers in our public rights of way. However, not only do many of these barriers remain, many communities haven’t created inventories of barriers, or timelines for when they plan to fix them. Kitsap County, where we are focusing this series, is one jurisdiction where we are still waiting.

In this series you’ll hear from disabled residents of Kitsap County about how this lack of access impacts their lives, as well as interviews with researchers who are working on sidewalk accessibility.

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts & Anchor.

The Road Is the Sidewalk Episode 5: Yochai – The Road is the Sidewalk

In our advocacy work with nondrivers from communities throughout Washington State, we hear a lot about how inaccessible sidewalks, crossings and transit stops prevent disabled nondrivers from accessing our communities. After the Americans With Disability Act passed more than 30 years ago, the cities and counties we live in should have developed plans about how they were going to address these barriers in our public rights of way. However, not only do many of these barriers remain, lots of communities haven’t created inventories of barriers, or timelines for when they plan to fix them. Kitsap County, where we are focusing our series, is one jurisdiction with no such plan. In this series you’ll hear interviews with disabled community members about how this lack of access impacts their lives, as well as interviews with researchers who are working on sidewalk accessibility. This episode features Dr. Yochai Eisenberg from University of Illinois at Chicago. Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uE_fZ6A9xKoWLyG675iJsLImVOPTnn7T/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101150856821418452673&rtpof=true&sd=true

You can also download the episode audio & read the episode transcripts using the links below.

Episode 1: Kris

Episode 2: Jamin

Episode 3: Kat and JR

Episode 4: Anat

Episode 5: Yochai