Most people think of “accessibility” as those little-used options on their computer for disabled users. But not only does accessible design make a piece of technology useful to all, but it also increases the product’s user base and also makes it easier to use for people across age brackets and cultural boundaries.
“This is something that’s very relevant, and it’s not a luxury anymore,” explained Faith Haeussler, county coordinator of Philadelphia Link, a collaborative that helps the disability community become more independent. “There’s a shortage of caregivers, I think technology has to come in and take over some of the responsibility. I really believe that technology is going to help keep people with disabilities in their homes.”
Instead of the traditional model of telling people with disabilities what they need, individuals with disabilities were seen as knowledge experts, sitting side-by-side with hackers and developing design decisions at the conception of each project. “As a quadriplegic, I know that I could not do the work that I do without technology,” said German Parodi, a grassroots disability activist and student. “Collaborating from the bottom up, we’re respecting each other and trying to build a future collectively.”
“You always want to have disability at the table.” said Peter Trojić, a wheelchair user who participated at the event. Many people with disabilities also learned about accessibility issues from their peers. “There will be things that I don’t understand about certain disabilities, so I need input from them and they need input from me,” Trojić explained.
Hack4Access, a hackathon focusing on accessibility, was held in Philadelphia, over the weekend of May 31th to June 1st. It was hosted by Technically Philly, a tech news site, Philadelphia Link, and GenPhilly, a network geared toward developing an age-friendly city.
One of the main projects worked on at the hackathon was Unlock Philly, a data site centered around accessibility mapping. It has a variety of tools for people with disabilities to smartly commute around the city, including maps of accessible train stations in Philadelphia, an accessible trip planner, data visualizations of the broken accessibility elevators in stations, and videos to help people with anxiety navigate each station remotely.
Fall Fighter, another project, is a wearable sensor that tells you when you’re about to fall. Made out of an arduino and an accelerometer, the device analyzes your body positions and alerts you as you start to get off balance. The team built the hardware over the weekend and is currently working on developing the algorithms.
