Seattle, WA
More than 30 years after the ADA, Seattle still struggles with disability access

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
March is Incapacity Consciousness Month, however full entry in Seattle for folks with mobility and different challenges stays an ongoing challenge.
Driving the information: Greater than 30 years after the Individuals with Disabilities Act grew to become federal regulation, incapacity entry stays amongst Seattle’s least championed civil rights, advocates say.
Why it issues: If entry just isn’t addressed for folks with mobility, imaginative and prescient, listening to and different impairments, folks with disabilities cannot be full members of their communities, Kimberly Meck, govt director at Incapacity Empowerment Middle, informed Axios.
The massive image: Between 20 to 25% of Seattle-area residents are estimated to expertise some form of impairment, Meck stated, and people numbers will develop as folks age.
What they’re saying: “There is a distinction between (organizations) writing down what they suppose they should say and taking motion,” she stated. “And that is the place folks with disabilities are getting the brief shaft.”
Zoom in: Entry is healthier in Seattle and King County than a lot of Washington, in accordance with Anna Zivarts, the director of Incapacity Rights Washington’s mobility initiative program. However, she stated, there stay well-documented and long-standing boundaries to mobility.
A 2017 Seattle evaluation of two,300 miles of metropolis sidewalks documented 20,000 obstructions and 93,000 peak variations or tripping hazards.
- Lacking or inaccessible sidewalks, insufficient or absent curb ramps and the dearth of accessible pedestrian alerts proceed to be among the many most frequently reported points, Zivarts stated.
- Blocked entry in development zones and damaged elevators and escalators obstructing public transit entries are different continual points.
For Hugh Boyd, a member of the Harborview Amputee Assist Group who works, drives and lives in Seattle, the dearth of ADA parking — together with at house complexes with minimal or no parking, ADA or in any other case —is one other fixed thorn.
Zoom out: As a result of there is no such thing as a enforcement physique particularly tasked with making certain ADA compliance, it usually takes lawsuits or investigations to floor issues and immediate change, Christina Fogg, former civil rights program coordinator for the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Western District of Washington, informed Axios.
- After being sued over inaccessible curb ramps in 2015, town agreed in 2017 to construct or repair 1,250 ramps annually for 18 years.
Sure, however: The funding required to restore and keep 34,000 blocks of sidewalk value $5 billion is far higher than the out there funds, town stated in its sidewalk report.
Of be aware: Town is addressing the problem and made a collection of enhancements final yr, stated Ethan Bergerson of the Seattle Division of Transportation, together with 17,000 sidewalk repairs masking roughly 56,000 sq. toes of sidewalk.
- Moreover, 20 blocks of recent sidewalks had been added on streets that didn’t have them earlier than and 1,500 new curb ramps had been put in round Seattle.
What’s subsequent: Income constituted of tickets issued by computerized cameras to folks violating bus lane and intersection legal guidelines will likely be used to put in extra accessible stroll alerts, stated Bergerson.
- These alerts, which vibrate and make noise, assist folks with imaginative and prescient and listening to impairments to cross safely.

Seattle, WA
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Seattle, WA
Seattle weather: Cooler with more clouds Friday

SEATTLE – It was another warm day for the Pacific Northwest, but it was much cooler compared to what we saw Wednesday! Temperatures were 5-10 degrees cooler this afternoon.

It was another warm day for the Pacific Northwest, but it was much cooler compared to what we saw Wednesday! (FOX 13 Seattle)
Lows tonight will still be mild with temperatures in the mid to upper 50s with increasing clouds.

Lows tonight will still be mild with temperatures in the mid to upper 50s with increasing clouds.
What’s next:
Clouds will increase throughout the day on Friday as our next system sweeps into the region. Skies will remain mainly dry, besides a few pockets of morning drizzle along the coast.

Clouds will increase throughout the day Friday as our next system sweeps through the region. (FOX 13 Seattle)
Temperatures will be cooler on Friday, especially compared to the heat we have been seeing earlier this week. We will see a few afternoon sunbreaks, but it won’t be as sunny either. Highs will be in the mid to upper 70s for the Puget Sound, 60s along the coast, and we will get warmer for central Washington.

Temperatures will be cooler Friday, especially compared to the heat we have been seeing earlier this week. We will see a few afternoon sunbreaks.
Clouds will continue into the weekend with a weak upper-level trough also bringing in milder temperatures. Skies will remain dry for most of us through the next week, with a few showers possible in the cascades Monday and Tuesday. We will start to warm back up by the middle of next week.

Clouds will continue into the weekend with a weak upper level trough bringing in milder temperatures. (FOX 13 Seattle)
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologist Claire Anderson and the National Weather Service.
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Seattle, WA
Seattle Seahawks support continued growth of girls flag football in Alaska

WASILLA — When Seattle Seahawks Managing Director of Community Engagement Becca Stout was in high school two decades ago, competing in flag football wasn’t even an option.
So being able to lead the charge in putting on the team’s first-ever girls flag football camp in Alaska on Friday, at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla, was especially meaningful for her and the organization.
More than 70 girls from across the state gathered for the camp, proving to Stout that the tide has turned for girls competing in football.
“I would’ve loved to have that, so now just every girl moving forward will have this opportunity to play football and it’s so cool,” she said. “We were told for so long that it’s just a male-dominated sport, and it’s not anymore.”
Girls flag football is being sanctioned in the state of Washington next month. Alaska had its first sanctioned state title last year. While the Seahawks have been coming up to Alaska regularly for the last decade and a half, they only started focusing on supporting the flag football community in the past couple of years.

“Supporting girls flag football is a really big initiative for the Seattle Seahawks,” Stout said. “It’s been a huge focus for us, not just in the state of Washington but helping it grow around the whole world.”
As interest has continued to grow, so has opportunity for flag football players, from youth athletes up to the highest levels.
“The girls here are out here hustling and competing and just trying to grow the game,” Stout said. “There’s so much opportunity for girls to play the sport now. More and more colleges are offering the sport so just the opportunity for scholarships for these young athletes, and it’s going to be an Olympic sport in (Los Angeles) in 2028. Hopefully someone from Alaska is competing in the Olympics in 2028.”
[Previously: Once dismissed as ‘powderpuff’ sport, Alaska girls flag football gets boost with first-ever sanctioned state championship]
Among the Seahawks contingent traveling north was starting right tackle Abraham Lucas, who was making his third visit to the state for an outreach event.
“One, I like Alaska, it’s a great place, and two, it’s nice to give back,” he said.

Lucas does a camp every year in Everett, Washington, and likes to be able to travel to other places and participate in similar events, especially ones that support the growth of sports such as flag football.
“Any capacity that you can get people to play football, whether it’s flag or two-hand touch, we all started off as young kids playing football in the front yard or backyard,” he said. “It’s great to still see people having fun with it, playing it and having a good time.”
Lucas played football at Washington State University and is happy that flag football can provide girls around the world the chance to continue their athletic careers beyond high school.
His advice to student-athletes who aspire to make it to the next level is that playing collegiate sports takes “a lot of sacrifice” and becomes like a job at some point.
“If you put all your time and energy towards it, it’ll go great for you because there’s no substitute for hard work,” Lucas said.
Proof of tangible growth in Alaska
There were at least 10 high school flag football programs from across the state represented at the event by either coaches or participants.
“It’s a great experience and opportunity for the girls that they normally don’t get,” West Anchorage head coach Antonio Wyche said. “It’s an opportunity for them to get to see different levels of football.”

The first-ever sanctioned high school state championship tournament for flag football was another indicator of how much the sport has grown in Alaska.
The Eagles have historically had “great numbers” when it comes to the participation level during Wyche’s tenure at the helm of the program. He has heard from other coaches with budding and traditionally smaller programs that their numbers are on the rise since the statewide sanctioning of the sport.
“The excitement that the girls are talking more about football is great for our sport,” Wyche said.
North Pole senior Jaelynn Colby was on the state championship team last year and has been playing flag football since her freshman year. She and her sister made the 326-mile trek to take part in the camp put on by their favorite NFL team.
“Me and my sister made this commitment to come here, we are Seahawks fans ourselves so it was pretty cool to come meet these people,” Colby said. “It’s so cool to me and awesome to have them here.”
[Previously: North Pole earns first-ever Alaska state flag football title]
While she plays a lot of sports, flag football is the one she wishes to play in college the most.
“This is definitely the best camp I’ve been to for a sport that I’m playing,” Colby said.

Two of her former Patriots teammates, Tiahna Guzman and Camryn Williams, represented not only their program but Alaska as a whole in flag football at the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl games, which she feels further underlines the sport’s rapid growth in the state.
“This has been the best year ever,” Colby said. “After our state win, we realized that this is going to be the next big thing. We’re kind of preaching it more at our school, so we’re telling all the girls that if you want a chance to do something other than your other sports you play, we’ve got that opportunity, so why not start now (rather) than later?”
Guzman is one of several girls in the state in recent years who have earned scholarships to continue playing flag football at the collegiate level. She will be taking her talents to Bryant and Stratton College in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, this fall.
Just being able to compete for a state title was a dream of Colby and her teammates when they first started playing flag football four years ago. To be able to top Service for a state title and be part of history made last year’s ride even more special.
“We’re really excited about this next year,” Colby said. “We’re going to build our team up. We lost some key players but we’ve got some new ones coming in, and I’m really excited to see how this next year goes.”
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