Hello Friends,
Let’s join me to re-live May 17, 2025 through this recap of your favourite meet-up series Ghumakkad Gossip on the topic Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
I am pleased to observe the Responses and Reactions of all the participants during the GG kick off meet-up first and subsequently followed in GG meet-up–02 through GG meet-up–08.
There were 32 participants across the globe including the Meet-up Moderator (MM), Guest Speaker and Connect Moderators during the eighth meet-up of GG series.
I am thankful to all of you who supported this idea and made this happen (MTH).
I have captured the gist of this meet-up under various heads. Please go through them and share your views.
Quick Introduction of the Attendees
The participants have introduced themselves by sharing their Name, City, LG level and the Connect id. They were requested to write down these details in the chat box.
Participants were also requested to join the virtual meet-up on time to pay respect to the Guest Speaker and the co-participants who have joined on or before time.
Overview of the Meet-up
The MM explained the objective behind starting this GG Meet-up series and how it got conceptualized.
Ghumakkad Gossip Meet-up series is created for all of us, by all of us and with all of us. This is to create more cohesive and collaborative platform to Share & Learn for everyone here. The MM also share some basic ground rules to make the meet-up effective for everyone.
He also explained, why the series is named as Ghumakkad Gossip? Ghumakkad is a Hindi word which in English means ‘Wanderer’ and Ghumakkad Gossip means ‘Talk with Wanderer’. Here, the emphasis is on Traveller and not on Tourist when we talk about Ghumakkad.
Introduction of Guest Speaker
This episode of GG series was dedicated to Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). And to enlighten us on this topic our Guest was the Connect Moderator and Accessibility Champion Tushar Suradkar (@TusharSuradkar).
Gossip with Guest Speaker on the topic
The MM started the session with a talk on GAAD. What is it and what is its significance. He emphasized on the purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different disabilities. He further explained about common disabilities/impairments and talked about:
-
Visual Impairments
-
Hearing Impairments
-
Mobility Impairments
-
Cognitive Impairments
Conversation with Guest speaker started with a subject on ‘How anyone can make Maps more accessible’. Tushar shared as how he created a system that helped him make sure all of his reviews cover the accessibility details like if a place has tactile paths for the visually impaired, ramp access, and wheelchair-accessible entrances, restrooms, parking and elevators. He suggested the participants to look for other accessibility areas also other than the wheelchair accessibility and talked about Accessibility for ALL movement. He said that local guides should extend the limits of updating accessible places on Google Maps beyond conventional notions of ramps and icons using innovative ideas while championing an inclusive culture. He explained this by showing the relevant examples of Monuments, ATMs, Tactile Path.
Attendees to seek more clarity
There were couple of questions raised by the participants during the meet-up. Here is the summary of discussion around those asked questions:
-
How to become Accessibility Champion?[1]
o Focus on the helping intent.
o Be active and contribute.
o Keep on contributing quality contents on Google Maps and on Connect.
o Keep learning and sharing about various accessibility features and ensure
highlighting in your contributions on Maps and on Connect.o Do it with an objective to help the users as how are they going to be benefitted by
your contributions. -
What to do if the place is not at all accessible?
o Mention that clearly in your contribution as the place is not accessible.
o As a Local Guide, we must discover and highlight the absence of accessibility
feature also. This helps instating the feature in the future by the relevant
owner/authority. This is a great help to the community.
Attendees Insights
AjitThite added to the conversation that Railways are the best place to learn about accessibility.
Gurukrishnapriya shared that people with disabilities is now known as ‘People with determination’. She further added that while updating the accessibility feature on Maps for a specific POI, be sure you give only the correct information.
Special Thanks
I would like to extend my special thanks to dear PrasadVR, AjitThite, and ShreyaMusings for capturing beautiful candid moments which I couldn’t resist myself from sharing here.
Debriefing & wrap up
The MM summarized the overall discussion and thanked all participants for joining and making this meet-up a success. A BIG THANK YOU to our Guest Speaker Tushar Suradkar for sharing his precious time and invaluable knowledgebase with all of us.
All participants were eager to know the next topic, name of the next Guest Speaker and the date of next GG Meet-up. Thanks for your interest and enthusiasm. And, to add further to your excitement, we are going to have two Guest Speakers for the first time in GG Meet-up house. Here is the next episode of Ghumakkad Gossip Meet-up series planned ahead for you.
Please block your calendar for the upcoming power packed meet-up as we are together going to contribute for A Green Future. See you around.
This is an opportunity for the Local Guides to Support and Shine, Share and Learn.
I express my sincere gratitude to all who have joined and expressed their interest throughout the session.
@AjitThite, @DaripelliRahul, @deepakjhic, @ModNomad, @K.K.Sharma, @Gouri.PS, @Gurukrishnapriya, @indrajmankas, @Globe_trotter_Ish, @MadhurG, @Manishhh, @BALA, @MathanVibranarayan, @ShreyaMusings, @NandKK, @nitinkachare, Pranav Poojary, @PrasadVR, @Piyushdeora122, @Rahul001, @Raj_Tayade, Rohan Mudshingkar, @RosyKohli, @SarathUpendran, @ShailendraOjha, @Shrut19, @ShubhamWaman, @TravellerG, @VikramSingh_Valera, @Gvipin
Please let me know if I have missed any name.
This photo is the testimony of togetherness for the reason we all have met up for.
Key Takeaways
- One Billion people worldwide have disabilities.[2] We should contribute to make their life easier through Google Maps by contributing on Accessibility.
- Visual Impairments, Hearing Impairments, Mobility Impairments and Cognitive Impairments are the common disabilities/impairments.
- Local Guides can make Maps more accessible.
- Accessibility is for all.
- Local Guides can extend the limits of updating accessible places on Google Maps beyond conventional notions of ramps and icons using innovative ideas while championing an inclusive culture.
- Keep learning and sharing about various accessibility features and ensure highlighting in your contributions on Maps and on Connect.
- Do it with an intent to help the users as how are they going to be benefitted by our contributions.
Key Success Factor
- Meet-up promotion through various networking channels. (Thanks TravellerG)
- 80% participants joined on or before time helped MM to start and end the Meet-up at the scheduled time. Thank you all. This also avoids waiting time to Admit the participant, if they join on time.
- Mock-up session/s before the final meet-up between MM and the Guest Speaker.
Feeling Words
A snippet of feeling words from Participants in the Meet-up Message Box.
Recaps of past episodes of GG Meet-up series in chronological order:
- Recap: [Virtual] India, January 17, Ghumakkad Gossip: Supporting Small Businesses
- Recap: [Virtual] India, February 08, Ghumakkad Gossip: Editing Roads For Beginners
- Recap: [Virtual] India, February 16, Ghumakkad Gossip: Importance of Co-Host in the Meet-up - Part 1
- Recap: [Virtual] India, March 16, Ghumakkad Gossip: Local Guides Community and Connect Overview
- Recap: [Virtual] India, March 29, Ghumakkad Gossip: Accessibility Awareness
- Recap: [Virtual] India, April 12, Ghumakkad Gossip: Importance of Co-Host in the Meet-up - Part 2
- Recap: [Virtual] India, April 19, Ghumakkad Gossip: Local Guides And YouTube
- [Virtual] India, May 17, Ghumakkad Gossip: Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) - [This Recap]
Thanks to 
I was happy to be a part of this meet up