Google Maps is such a great platform for local guides to share and rate their experiences of places. These experiences and ratings help millions of people daily in making decisions. Decisions like these are what create moments, great moments in this case. Using myself as an example, I’ve had so many great experiences of places due to the simple fact that my decision was mainly guided by the many ratings and reviews of other local guides like myself.
Everyday, more and more places are striving to make their premises more accessible. Considerations for people with disabilities is increasing everyday. Restaurants have started making braille menu for the blind. It was not until some few years ago that the government of Kenya issued a directive that all television news broadcasters have a sign language interpreter for deaf people. As such, being a local guide, I’ve always made it my aim that whenever I visit a place, I check just how accessible it is, or just how can people with disabilities benefit from the existing amenities. Will a person with disabilities find this places as fun or interesting as I do? These are just some of the questions I ask myself.
I love sharing my experience of places based on just how wheelchair accessible they are. I believe fun should not be limited to people without disabilities and anyone should be able to visit any place irregardless of their physical well being. First thing I do after visiting any place is checking into the location so that I can get that famous know this place notification after which I answer the questions about the wheelchair accessibility of the place. And if I don’t get the question, I write about it on my detailed review. My key observations of a place is whether there are wheelchair accessible parking, elevators, toilets, seating or entrances.
Its 2019 and I believe that by now ever where should be wheelchair accessible. For the places that are actually accessible I make it my mission to note all the observations on my review so that I can help that person with a disability, even if its only one, get that vital information.
I’ve noticed that most places in Nairobi are still lagging behind in terms of enhancing accessibility. Most places have wheelchair accessible parking and seating but somehow forget to include accessible toilets. I was motivated to do this after my brief interaction with a wheelchair bound person. He shared on how he found it difficult to move anywhere without prior research on the accessibility of the place. According to him, going to a place just blindly meant he had to be left behind in the car most of the time due to nonexistent or lack of adequate accessible infrastructure for persons with disabilities. This conversation really made me think of all the other many people like him who were also going through the same. I just thought to myself since I am a Google Local Guide, I’ll try as much as possible to share all my observations on the accessibility about a place and try to suggest places that are easily accessible.
The believe that the information I share through the questions I answer and the many reviews I have made helps someone somewhere out there is what motivates me to keep sharing and answer those questions. It is my aim to make every experience accessible, one review at a time. I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage more local guides to share more about accessibility on Google Maps, thank you.