Technology, innovation and creativity are potentially the main ingredients to the solution of our future. With these elements, we are able to provide better solutions for those who are less fortunate. As able people, we do not see the possible difficulties that people on wheelchairs would feel. Unfortunately, to travel around in New York City, it could prove to be a daunting task for wheel chair users. Wheel NY, a new Kickstarter project, aims to bring on a less time consuming experience and easier transport solution for wheel chair users by collating all accessibility information together from various sources.
It will help users to plan much easier and earlier in order to forecast possible obstacles that may come. With the maps section, one could not only plan, they can also check to see if there are broken lifts, damaged pathways or cracked sidewalks that would deem unfit for wheelchairs along the way. Now, with the ability to get real-time updates on these accessibility statuses, the disabled would now be able to open up to more places. It opens up many possibilities for the disabled. They can now feel more than just the joy of having a nice movie or a great meal, but also a taste of transport freedom. It is a dream come true.
The current Kickstarter project status requires $50,000 to fund the app and web development. Currently running $40,000 short with approximately two weeks more to go, it hopes to have more people contributing as the bulk of these funds would go to a team of 4-5 responsible to bring this idea to live from ideation to design and eventually the development and launch. Definitely a great app with the ability to make a change to the world. It also has one of the key characteristics of a well planned mobile app – Scalability. One of the key considerations was the adaptation of this app onto other cities, helping the rest of world’s disabled people to regain their mobility freedom.
Zack Chia 