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Traveling with disabilities is hard, but online tools like AVIV ScoutRoute, RollMobility, Be My Eyes and Wheel the World can help. [Chris Gash\/The New York Times]<\/p>\n
Sasha Blair-Goldensohn is on a tech-driven mission to help people with disabilities travel easier. Blair-Goldensohn, a software engineer at Google, was paralyzed from the chest down in 2009, when a 100-pound tree limb fell on him in Central Park. Since then, his perspective as a wheelchair user has inspired him to build out Google Maps accessibility features and to push for all-around inclusivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge swath of the population that isn\u2019t visible \u2013 not because we don\u2019t want to be out there in the community, but because out of sight, out of mind,\u201d said Blair-Goldensohn, who is now the disability inclusion feature lead at Google.<\/p>\n
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people \u2013 or 16% of the world\u2019s population \u2013 experience significant disability. That\u2019s more than 70 million adults in the United States.<\/p>\n
Many of them rely on Google Maps features that show stair-free entrances and provide audio guidance to navigate streets and find places such as restaurants, ATMs and accessible transit stations. Blair-Goldensohn has helped oversee the introduction of wheelchair-accessible transit routes and, more recently, stair-free surface routes.<\/p>\n
Google Maps isn\u2019t the only mapping app for navigating accessibility when you get to an unfamiliar city. AVIV ScoutRoute customizes routes for people with limited mobility or vision, relying on user feedback and AI to account for factors like sidewalk width, steepness, surface composition, curb ramps and landmarks.<\/p>\n
Here are three other tools that can ease the way for travelers with disabilities.<\/p>\n
RollMobility<\/p>\n
After Rachel Zoeller became a wheelchair user in 2019 as a result of a spinal cord injury, going out to meet friends took strategy and research. She would call a restaurant to ask about accessibility, get verification, then arrive to find out, say, that the door wasn\u2019t wide enough or the tables were too close together \u2013 or there was carpeting, which can take more shoulder strength to wheel across. She joined a team creating RollMobility, a free app, to address those critical details.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re home, you have your go-to places. You know what to do to navigate the space when you get there,\u201d Zoeller said. \u201cWhen you go somewhere new, it can feel like a guessing game to someone in a wheelchair whether they\u2019ll be able to get around a bar or hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Americans With Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design establish basic requirements for accessibility, like entrance access and the path of travel to restrooms, but they still leave gaps. Many businesses were grandfathered in and were never forced to retrofit their spaces.<\/p>\n
The RollMobility app aims to help users navigate those types of spaces by offering crowdsourced details such as table and bar heights and door weight \u2013 heavier doors can be harder to open with limited mobility. Since the service began in 2023, more than 20,000 places in over 100 countries have been evaluated.<\/p>\n
\u201cTools like ours,\u201d Zoeller said, \u201ctry to bridge the gap between a fully actualized ADA and today\u2019s reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, users say the app makes navigating easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe app allows me to plan,\u201d said Chris Layne, a wheelchair user and former Ms. Wheelchair Colorado. \u201cIf I\u2019m meeting friends, I can know ahead of time how accessible the bathroom at a restaurant is and whether I and my mother, who uses a walker, can use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Be My Eyes<\/p>\n
Eleven years since Hans Wiberg, who is blind, created Be My Eyes, the app has registered more than 10 million volunteers to help guide people who are blind or have limited sight through everyday life. Collectively, that crew speaks 185 different languages. The site has nearly 1 million blind or low-vision users.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how it works: Users who need help log on to the app any time of day, anywhere in the world, and they\u2019re connected with a volunteer who speaks their language. They then point a smartphone camera at their surroundings and the volunteer provides a real-time description of what\u2019s happening and can engage in conversation. There\u2019s also an AI feature that allows the user to share a photograph, and a chatbot will describe what it sees.<\/p>\n
That means if you\u2019re traveling, you can get immediate, personalized assistance navigating unfamiliar streets or getting the lay of the land in a hotel room or restaurant. It\u2019s especially useful to have guidance in your own language when traveling abroad.<\/p>\n
Wheel the World<\/p>\n
Standard travel agencies often overlook disabled travelers\u2019 specific needs, but services including Wheel the World, a web-based travel agency, offer traditional booking services as well as travel packages that can include accessible transportation, tour guides and specialty equipment such as amphibious wheelchairs and adaptive kayaks.<\/p>\n
More than 800 freelance \u201cmappers\u201d have gathered about 225 data points per hotel for more than 6,000 properties in 50-plus countries, with the majority in the United States, creating a vast database of important details such as bed heights, door widths, bathroom accessibility and dimensions. Users can match their needs with a hotel\u2019s features.<\/p>\n
Wheel the World marks a property with a \u201cverified\u201d badge based on standards that were created through interviews with more than 100 members of the disability community. If a user books a hotel that doesn\u2019t precisely match the online details, Wheel the World provides a refund.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccessibility is not one size fits all,\u201d said Arturo Gaona, a co-founder of the service.<\/p>\n