Just realized curb cuts matter way more than I thought

I moved to Portland last June and started using a wheelchair after a car accident. For years I never paid attention to curb cuts, figured they were just for convenience. Then I had to navigate a two block stretch on SE Belmont where three corners had missing or crumbling ramps. That small detail turned a quick errand into a 20 minute detour through a parking lot. I looked up the ADA standards after that, found out curb cuts were a huge fight in the 70s and 80s, led by disabled activists. I honestly thought accessibility was just automatic, not something people had to demand. Anyone else have a moment where a basic feature suddenly became the most important thing in the world? What was yours?

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clairethompson23d ago

Wait, you thought accessibility was just automatic? That's kind of adorable, like thinking the government just woke up one day and decided to be nice. Those curb cuts exist because people literally threw themselves out of their chairs in the street to block traffic back in the day. I had my own moment a few years back when I messed up my knee and suddenly noticed how many sidewalks just end in a wall of asphalt with no ramp. Two blocks turned into a maze. It's wild how a six inch drop off a curb goes from nothing to a wall you can't pass. The thing that got me is how many people still fight new curb cuts like someone's taking something from them. It's just concrete, folks.

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