Comment by matsemann
Ref point 3 about high speed metal, moving to a place where things are in walking distance / less car centric could perhaps be a way to better enable independence?
Ref point 3 about high speed metal, moving to a place where things are in walking distance / less car centric could perhaps be a way to better enable independence?
Yes, if you can afford it. Bussing is feasible, and some communities (not nearly enough) are good about providing or have non-profits that operate shuttles for those in need as well.
A typical suburb will often have apartments near retail areas, but residential districts without alternate transit options may as well be deep rural if your only option is walking through intersections without traffic lights.
Public transit is fantastic for my independence. Most other countries I've been to grant me a greater degree of freedom than I have here in the US. NYC is decent for this. Stop lights and subways help me a lot.
Of all the cities I've been to, Shanghai is where I've had the most independence (Tokyo and Osaka are tied for second.) I could often travel fully underground or using skyways. Subways everywhere that were easy to navigate. They had the blind lines on the ground, though they did sometimes run me into trees and parked bikes.