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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-28-26 Correspondence - Disability Rights MT - Transportation is “Belonging Infrastructure”From:Disability Rights Montana - Growth Rings To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Transportation is “Belonging Infrastructure” Date:Monday, September 28, 2026 8:04:27 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Every paid subscription supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is nowhere near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! Transportation is “BelongingInfrastructure” Join me THIS WEEK (October 1-8) for the annual Week Without Driving READ IN APP Over the last few years, a disability-led transportation effort has spread across the country. Week Without Driving is starting this week on Thursday, October 1 and runs until next Thursday, October 8. Week Without Driving is a national challenge that invites people to experience, for a few days, some of the barriers that millions of Americans who cannot drive encounter every day. SEP 28 What You Can Learn When You Leave Your Keysat Home Montana advocates, community members, and leaders have participated in Week Without Driving in recent years. This is important because it centers conversations on the specific challenges facing Montanans who cannot drive because of disability, age, health conditions, or other circumstances. This year, we would love to see the movement continue to grow. Nationally we see more communities participating, more elected officials taking the challenge, more transportation professionals better understanding the people they serve. Here in Montana, we have an opportunity to do the same and add more local leaders to that conversation. I’ve participated every year since the challenge began. And despite years of advocacy around transportation and disability rights, I continue to participate for the same reason I did the first time: Every year, I notice something new. Not because transportation has changed dramatically. But because each year reveals barriers I previously walked past without seeing. There is always more to learn. Most of us who can drive move through our communities without giving transportation much thought. We get in our vehicles and go where we need to go. Work. School. Medical appointments. Religious services. Volunteer opportunities. Community events. Family gatherings. For those of us who drive, mobility feels automatic. But for many Montanans, it isn’t. For people who cannot drive, transportation often requires careful planning, coordination, and compromise. A routine medical appointment may require arranging rides with a friend or family member days in advance. Employment opportunities can be limited by transportation options rather than talent or qualifications. Community participation can depend on someone else’s availability, schedule, or willingness to help. Those realities exist in every corner of our state. And because Montana is Montana, transportation challenges often look different here than they do elsewhere in the country. A missed bus in a large city might mean waiting for the next one ten minutes later. A missed ride in rural Montana might mean missing the appointment entirely. A specialist might be eighty miles away. A job opportunity might be forty miles away. A grocery store might be twenty miles away. Distance and options change the equation. But the core issue remains the same. Transportation is access. Access to employment. Access to healthcare. Access to education. Access to community life. Access to the freedom to decide where you want to go and when you want to get there. That’s why Week Without Driving resonates so strongly with me. At its core, it isn’t really about transportation. It’s about participation. It’s about whether we are connected to the people and places that matter most to us. Transportation may be the route, but belonging is the destination. One of the themes we’ve been exploring here in this Growth Rings newsletter is the relationship between people and the environments around them. When a tree grows, we don’t attribute every outcome to the tree itself. We recognize the role of weather, soil, water, sunlight, competition, and countless environmental conditions that shape growth over time. The rings tell a story not only about the tree. They tell a story about the conditions surrounding it. Years of drought leave a mark. So do years of abundance. Growth is never only about individual effort. Environment matters. The same is true for people. Too often, we ask how individuals can overcome barriers without asking why those barriers exist in the first place. Week Without Driving encourages us to ask that question. It invites us to look beyond the individual and toward the systems we have built. For Montanans, that may mean noticing obstacles you’ve never considered before. For transportation planners and engineers, it may mean seeing how design decisions shape daily life. For elected officials, it may mean experiencing firsthand the consequences of policy choices and funding priorities. For all of us, it is an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of who is included, who is excluded, and what kind of communities we want to build together. Importantly, Week Without Driving is not about proving something. It’s not about perfection. It’s not about whether you manage to avoid every trip by car. In many Montana communities, that simply isn’t realistic. In fact, recognizing where driving remains the only practical option may be one of the most valuable lessons the week provides. The goal is observation. The goal is perspective. The goal is understanding. Because understanding is where better decisions begin. This year’s Week Without Driving runs from October 1 through October 8. Whether you’re a community member, a business leader, a transportation professional, a local elected official, or simply someone who’s curious about what life looks like from a different perspective, I invite you to participate. SIGN UP TODAY For one week: Leave the keys behind when you can. Pay attention. Notice what becomes harder. Notice what becomes impossible. Notice what becomes visible. If you have to drive during the week, that’s not a failure. In many Montana communities, it is part of the lesson. When driving remains the only practical option, that tells us something important about the transportation choices available to people who cannot drive. The challenge is not about perfection. It is about paying attention. But if you can do a week, or a day, I’d urge you to do it. You will learn even more by going through the exercise. At first you will see the barriers, but you will eventually start seeing solutions. And you will start to appreciate that someone who does this 24/7, 365 has learned even more about solutions. And you will value the insights they bring to the table when they offer their support in helping to design a better future for Montana communities. The experiences we have, difficult and joyful alike, leave their mark on us. They become the growth rings that shape who we are. Communities develop growth rings, too. The decisions we make about transportation, accessibility, housing, healthcare, and opportunity leave marks on the communities we build. Over time, those choices tell a story about who belongs and who is left out. Week Without Driving gives us the chance to read those rings a little more carefully. October 1-8, 2026 Sign up, participate in a way that works for you and your community, and share what you learn. Whether you leave the car at home for a day, a few trips, or the entire week, your experience can help build a broader understanding of mobility, access, and belonging in Montana and beyond. SIGN UP TODAY In solidarity, David David Carlson, J.D. Executive Director Disability Rights Montana Join Week Without Driving p.s. If you want to explore the You’re currently a free subscriber to Life Beyond Compliance. Upgrading to paid subscriptions supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is no where near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work concept of the infrastructure ofbelonging beyond transportation,check out this earlier issue of GrowthRings What If Belonging Was Infrastructure? DAVID CARLSON ·JUN 24 What If Belonging Was Infrastructure? Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice released an internal memo rejecting decades of disability civil rights enforcement and the legal principles. Specifically, it attacked the same “integration mandate” that Montana’s AG Austin Knudsen is attacking in the lawsuit he is waging down in Lubbock, Texas. The legal principle of the integration mandate ha… Read full story that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! Upgrade to paid LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Disability Rights Montana1022 Chestnut Street, Helena, MT 59601 Unsubscribe