It gives me immense joy as I write the recap of the Accessibility uncovered Webinar 2.0 . The main motto of this webinar was to talk about Accessibility, spread awareness and gain a perspective to create #Mapsforall . This was one of the meet-ups I personally enjoyed hosting as well as gained a lot of knowledge and perspective towards accessibility. We all were honoured to have Diogo Martins as our guest speaker , who is co-founder of the first Independent Living Centre in Portugal and is a part of the first pilot-projects on Personal Assistance for disabled people. Being involved in several Lisbon Pedestrian Accessibility Plan phases and supporting the public transport operators to improve accessibility ; he has a great insight into ‘Inclusive designing’ and Accessibility in general !
The webinar started with a quick overview of what we as Local Guides do and a brief introduction of our guest speaker Diogo. The next session was a presentation given by Diogo which helped us gain knowledge and have an altogether different perspective regarding accessibility and how we could use the same to improve our contributions on Maps. Here are some key points he spoke about :
- What is Disability? Some interesting facts about disability.
- What is Accessibility and how it helps us empower our autonomy and improve the quality of life for all.
- How Accessibility helps everyone and not only disabled people.
- Importance of involving disabled people during designing of Inclusive paths /buidings or transport.
Post the amazing presentation by Diogo , was the most interesting and interactive QnA session we ever had ! I loved this session because it was full of curious minds asking so many interesting questions to Diogo! I personally loved the enthusiasm of the attendees in this session as they were all ears to whatever knowledge they could gain to help improve their contributions on Maps. Here are some of the interesting questions discussed during the webinar :
- What are the minimum requirements for a place to be called ‘Accessible’ according to you? [By Isha]
- Which is the most accessible place you saw till date and why? [By Isha]
- What would you recommend as a designer for a non-accessible shop or place to become ‘Accessible’? Re-building or any other option? [By Isha]
- When you compare Lisbon and London, which is more accessible? [By Emeka]
- Where PWDs do not understand accessibility laws and standard requirements how could they be involved in accessibility developments. or Are all disabled people experts in accessibility developments? [By Emeka]
- Do you use Google maps for navigation? [By Emeka]
- Have you come across an Airplane or Train that is wheelchair accessible friendly? [By Erna]
- You mentioned that 70-90% of disabled people are unemployed. What type of employment do you often see those hold? What type of opportunities would you like to see more of for those with disabilities? [By Chinonso]
- Do you find any challenges when you are working on Inclusive projects? [By Deliana @doc_dells ]
- How can we with our message on social media platforms help motivate and reserve seats for disabled people so that our voice reaches to the industries? [By Rosy ma’m @RosyKohli ]
Post this insightful brainstorming and QnA session, our discussion moved towards Accessibility laws in different countries. Indah @indahnuria shared a very happy and inclusive news during the webinar that In Indonesia, the Head of National Police just announced that the Police force will start recruiting the persons with disability for their back office. Emeka too shared that in Nigeria the current law now mandates public organisations to employ at least 5% of PwDs. Although the webinar was planned for 1 hour, it got extended as everyone was really eager to gain more knowledge about accessibility. The best part was when Diogo said he uses Maps often to check the accessibility of a particular place before going anywhere ! A happy moment for all of us #LocalGuides !!!
Here is the photo album link and the recorded video hosted on YouTube video for all those who missed or want to know more about this amazing webinar :
I would like to give a big thanks to all the amazing attendees who made this a knowledge gaining and successful webinar ! A big thanks to @EmekaUlor for trusting me to host this webinar on behalf of One Accessibility team. Thank you @Jesi for helping me meet and co-ordinate the webinar with Diogo. Thank you @Erna_LaBeau for attending at odd hours ,Shruti tai @Shrut19 for amazing clicks for the photo album and the entire #oneaccessibility core team members @ChinonsoOnukwugha , @KashifMisidia and @PennyChristie for the constant love and support ! This webinar is a result of amazing team work , so thank you all once again!
If you have a question, suggestion, or contribution, feel free to comment below. The next Accessibility Uncovered webinar would be in March.
I am glad the photos and video helped you feel as if you were in the meetup ! Thank you for dropping by and sharing your thoughts with us 
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