Hello local guides, as I m now a part of campaigns from this great forum of local guides connect, I tried to do a accessibility walk around my area.
Before I start, I would like to share a short story about myself, from which I learn the significance of accessibility.
Few years back, my father fell severely ill before he passed away. During his last year, He was unable to move without wheel chair. Whenever he used to crave the appetizing meals, the only option to fulfill that craving was to bring takeaways for him. However, he used to dislike and lose the interest in the meals, as his taste buds could not be satisfied as it should’ve been because it didn’t satisfy the freshness and hotness it had while trying in restaurant and being served traditional pakistani food “hot naans” with fingerlicking “chicken karhais”. The whole reason for inconvenience suffered by him was his immobility and unaccessiblity of wheelchairs in his all-time favorite restaurants.
From that day, I realised that if somebody is , unfortunately, weak enough to stand, has to suffer and miss the fun by being unable to go to restaurant and only to casual parks and hospitals in my city, (where even only few has the option of accessibility).
But thanks to Google local guides connect, who gave me the chance to type my heart out about this sensitive issue of accessibility because I’ve experienced the issue and I know the importance of seeing the person being devastated because of the disability.
About my walk :
This walk was actually about Map editing walk, but along with map editing, as I wanted to contribute more, by identifying the places which had the option of wheel chair ramp availability. However, as my duty, I volunteered by telling them about how can they help the others, who are most in need of help due to their inability.
To accompany me, I also invited some fellow guides through Host a meetup option, so that we could go and search the accessible places. However, due to change of plans, nobody turned up and I did it alone. Nevertheless, it resulted in experiencing and learning more.
The credits goes to @IlankovanT @ErmesT and @EmekaUlor , who changed my perspective and influenced me to observe the surrounding more. This also resulted in me, looking here and there to first find and feel relieved after seeing the accessibility options.
Map Editing walk :
In this walk I was astounded that most
places did not even exist on Google maps, so I added them. It was around eighteen different shops/places which I newly added into the region of Federal B Area.
Accessibility walk :
This was the second but most important part of my whole walk,
In this walk, I experienced happiness but my heart broke when I found out, that there are not many businesses and restaurants who care about the importance of wheel chair accessiblity in my area. Thus, it depends on the facilities we provide that allows the disabled people to move freely and unassisted in our community.
So the children, persons with broken legs, parents with prams, elderly persons, patients do not have to go through the pain and suffering because of their weakness.
So being a humanitarian first and then a Local Guide, my job is to always look and ensure that accessibility information are added to Google Maps in order to make it usable by for all people.
For more pictures Please check that Photo Album .
Thank you
Kashif
