• Accessibility Tip #148: A New Application for Travelers with Disabilities…

    Posted by: dda604
    Date: 2011.11.17 | Category: News | Tags: ,,

    Taken from Sparc BC

    Travelling with disabilities can often present a unique set of challenges that can often make it difficult or daunting to begin their journeys. However, such challenges did not prevent a man who is blind from climbing Mt. Everest, and it did not prevent Rick Hansen from wheeling across 34 countries, and four continents, averaging 85kms in his wheelchair each day on his Man of Motion Tour.

    The Rick Hansen Foundation has set out to further revolutionize living and traveling for people with disabilities through their launch of the Rick Hansen Global Accessibility Map (GAM). Through the brainchild of Daryl Rock, the GAM is an easy-to-use online tool that rates the accessibility of buildings and public spaces around the world from a mobility, hearing, and sight accessibility perspective.

    In 2005 the World Health Organization determined that there were 650 million people living with a disability. Currently in Canada people with disabilities have a discretionary spending capacity of more than 25 billion dollars. In the USA that number is more than 158 billion dollars. In addition, people with disabilities take on average 2.3 trips per year, each lasting 7 to 8 days.

    This online tool can make it infinitely easier to organize and plan travel, whether you’ll be traveling in with mobility aides, with a stroller, or with sight or auditory disabilities. The tool can be accessed by computers, iPads, iPhones, BlackBerry Torch, and Android devices.

    For more information, please visit http://www.rickhansen.com/ or http://www.rickhansen.com/en-ca/home/globalaccessibilitymap.aspx