Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Best Protest Idea Ever

Line of empty wheelchairs parked in standard street side parking spaces in protest about handicapped parking
Line of empty wheelchairs parked in standard street side parking spaces in protest about handicapped parking
I don’t usually gush in blog posts, but “Oh. My. God! I LOVE this idea!”. From Apparelyzed, via the LivingwithDisability Tumblr blog.

Music For A Tuesday Evening

Accessibility Pledge

Advocacy topic icon
Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Looking for something meaningful to do? Document the accessibility ... or lack of it ... of businesses in your area. As I have said before in this blog, there are at least two web-based tools that I know of, that function both as locators of accessible businesses, and as tools for reporting details on accessibility. Both also incorporate regular websites and mobile apps. I'm logged into both, and try my best to enter each business I review into both programs:







AXS Map has a "pledge" you can sign, as a way to encourage you to assess more businesses and send in your ratings. AbleRoad's main strength is that it piggybacks on Yelp, so it may be easier to find businesses to review. Both sites are worth checking out.

International AXS Map Pledge

The key thing is that you have to submit reviews. We all have to submit reviews. If we don't, these programs won't work. It's really easy, too, so there's no excuse for not doing this, especially if you find yourself getting angry about barriers you find. If you've found a barrier, then you have something to report. It's that simple. Of course, the opposite is true. If you find a place that’s fully accessible, that’s useful information as well.

I have taken the AXS Map pledge to submit 15 reviews of places in my area, and again I'll be submitting the results to both AXS Map and AbleRoad. I invite my readers to do likewise!