Accessibility in Canada: A Movement for Inclusion
Building up the courage to bundle up and head out on the town is something quite difficult this time of year, when the cold icy wind sends chills down your spine and bites your fingers and toes. Now, you’ve just finished buttoning up your fourth sweater, finally left your house and 20 minutes later, arrive at the location where your friends are waiting to have a drink with you. You’ve overcome the heartbreak of leaving your warm cozy home, you’ve trekked through the cold, and you finally get to the restaurant just to be told that you can’t get in. “Why?” you may be questioning. Well, the restaurant was built for able-bodied people to access, with no thought given to how others with physical limitations, such as sitting in a wheelchair, would be included.
This is a problem that 1 in 7 people living in Canada, face every single day. The innovative idea of AccessNow, a mobile application and online website, eliminates this problem for thousands of individuals living with different disabilities, by using crowdsourcing to find and rate accessible locations across the globe. A red ‘thumbs down’ means the place is inaccessible, a yellow pylon means the place is partially accessible, an orange umbrella means there is only patio access, and most favorited, a green ‘thumbs up’ means the place is accessible for all! Users can rate and tag different features of the location based upon how accessible it is, and share their information on the interactive map. Browsing through the map, you can search specifically for a location, or see what’s popping in your area. A simple yet ingenious problem-solving idea.
Our goal is to map as many places as we possibly can, and we invite you to help us! A worldwide community, passionate about change, together we can empower each other to have access now. — AccessNow.Me
AccessNow is so much more than just a mobile application you can use to find the nearest accessible café or other; it is a movement. Access is a human right. All individuals should have the same rights to watch the ballet, to go out for drinks with a friend, or to grab a slice of pizza on their way home without a giant staircase stopping them. Now these are just examples, but the main idea that it comes down to is inclusion. A society is only as strong as it’s members. Excluding half the population based on their physical or mental abilities does not help strengthen our society in any way. AccessNow is a social movement for human rights, inclusion, equality, and awareness. This narrative will continue to share the stories of thousands of people, and continue to make changes in our daily lives. The movement of AccessNow is an ongoing conversation, that continues to bring communities together across the globe.
