Transportation and Neighborhood Priorities of Californians with Disabilities: Focus Group Findings

Abstract

We conducted a focus group comprising 20 adults with disabilities across California in November 2021 to understand how disability affects their choices and desires for transportation and neighborhood features. The focus group let us efficiently observe common responses on which participants could further build; though it is too small to be truly representative, it identifies issues to motivate further research and policymaking. Participants with various disabilities and from geographically diverse parts of California, including rural areas far from the major coastal metropolitan areas, uniformly wanted more dense mixed-use development to reduce the immediate burdens in transportation which they disproportionately face as people with disabilities and to move away from broader problems with car-oriented land use patterns. Many participants specifically asked for more street lighting, seating, and shade for users of all transportation modes, greater frequency and coverage of public transit, and similar support for infrequent but critical trips over longer distances. Drivers also wanted assurance that they would not be financially penalized for driving before policymakers implement adequate alternatives. All participants expressed hope that policymakers would implement their comments. We frame these findings by introducing the terms “immediate usability,”“cumulative usability,” and “availability,” to describe mobility for people with disabilities within the broader framework of accessibility, and by emphasizing the active roles these participants take in their respective communities.