"A Smart City Is an Accessible City
A new breed of accessibility apps can make life easier for people with disabilities. They can also make it harder."
A group gathers on a Nashville street corner, some rolling in wheelchairs and others walking. They have arrived holding their smartphones and make friendly chatter while a coordinator helps them log in to an app. Dispersing in small groups, they examine restaurants, cafes, and shops, looking for features signaling that disability is welcome there: a parking sign with the International Symbol of Access, a wheelchair ramp, an automatic front door, a wide bathroom stall with grab bars, braille text, low-flicker lighting, glare-free floors, scent-free soap. The groups use the app to document and rate these features. Once submitted, the information accumulates in a database that others can use to find accessible locations.
Play The Atlantic Crossword
Our mini puzzle gets bigger and more challenging each day. See if you can solve your way through the week.Play!The event is an accessibility “map-a-thon,” an effort to document features of the built environment through collective labor, and turn data collection and visualization into tools for disability activism...
For full article see: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/city-apps-help-and-hinder-disability/574963/
