New website rates how accessible buildings are
Posted October 12, 2011 12:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Rick Hansen Foundation hopes a new online tool will change the lives of people with disabilities. The Global Accessibility Map is now live.
Using Google Maps as a base, the website allows users to rate businesses and locations based on how accessible they are for people with disabilities. The website includes separate rating criteria for people with mobility, sight, and hearing issues. In each case, users are asked to give a rating between one and five, with five being the best.
Rick Hansen hopes the Global Accessibility Map will change lives. “And every individual, whether you have a mobility, hearing, or visual impairment, will have their own reference point. And they’ll know, I need a three or a four-star accessibility rating to be fully functional.”
“More importantly, it’s standardizing the playing field for all people, no matter whether you’re in Vancouver or Beijing or St. John’s, Newfoundland. You’ll have the same reference point and a product that can be equally accessible for all.”
Users are also able to leave comments about the sites they rate. Hansen is hoping individual sites will eventually receive hundreds — and then thousands — of personal ratings and comments.
Virtually any business or location around the world can be rated using the Global Accessibility Map. That means people with disabilities will even be able to plan vacations, knowing ahead of time that a city has locations that are accessible.
Hansen is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the start of his Man in Motion tour, which saw him circle the globe in his wheelchair to raise awareness for people with disabilities and find a cure for spinal cord disabilities.
The tour raised $26 million. Since then, the total has grown to $245 million.
