According to U.S. Census data, 13 percent of people live with one or more disabilities. This means that everyday living can pose its own challenges, from getting around and reading signage to hearing restaurant servers and dealing with anxiety-inducing crowds. These barriers are often exacerbated during travel, which is meant to be rewarding and enjoyable yet is also often filled with the unexpected and the unknown. Luckily, there are apps designed with the accessible traveler in mind:
WHEELMAP
Find and mark wheelchair-accessible places in restaurants, bars, shops and sites all over the world with this app and website. It categorizes areas using a traffic light system to show whether they are fully (green), partially (yellow) or not (red) accessible, or if the status is unknown. What’s more, anyone can find and rate public places on the map, keeping it up to date. iOS/Android.
wheelmap.org
BE MY EYES
This sight helper uses volunteers (and, soon, artificial intelligence) to help visually impaired people identify objects, places, signs or events. Users start a live stream of their cellphone camera, and an assigned volunteer in the same time zone who speaks the same language assists them in reading directions, completing a task or describing their surroundings; content can also be read aloud through speech synthesis. iOS/Android.
bemyeyes.com
FLUSH TOILET FINDER
Incontinence or digestive issues often become more of an issue during the stress of travel or when eating ingredients to which you’re unaccustomed. This useful app uses your phone’s GPS and a simple map to locate a public bathroom or restroom. The database currently includes 200,000 bathrooms around the world and provides other information such as rating, accessibility access, and whether the facility requires a key for usage. iOS.
apps.apple.com
LOOKTEL MONEY READER
Foreign currency can be difficult to calculate and identify, and even more so for the visually impaired. This app instantly recognizes 21 global currencies from the Japanese yen and Russian ruble to the euro and Hungarian forint. (It also identifies the U.S. dollar.) Point your cellphone camera at a bill, and the app speaks the country and denomination. iOS.
apps.apple.com
MAGNUSCARDS
This app is designed to empower autistic and neurodiverse people to gain independence in different areas of everyday life, from personal health and personal hygiene to shopping and cleaning by using clear, explicit, step-by-step instructions given in real time. The travel section includes tasks like boarding an airplane, navigating the New York City subway system and purchasing a train ticket. iOS/Android.
magnusmode.com
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