12 hours ago
Mobility And Travel: Getting Around, Going Global
Buildings, sidewalks and parks: they all can present impossible hurdles for people with disabilities, whether physical or sensory. Even when owners declare their establishment to be accessible—by letter of the law, perhaps—sometimes it's simply not.
The people and companies below provide technology and information to overcome those problems. Need the safest wheelchair securement system for your minivan? Need a cane that can detect obstacles and alert you (voice) long before you bump into them? New technology can do that. Craving safe and disability-friendly travel destinations before you show up? No problem.
Courtesy of Kelly Twichel
Even Paralympic wheelchair racers can't budge an inch on a beach—many resort to literally dragging themselves 60 yards across the sand to go in the ocean. This longtime accessibility challenge inspired Kelly Twichel, as a college occupational therapy project nine years ago, to invent portable 9-foot-square mats that can be laid end-to-end to create instant wheelways across grass, sand, snow and other heretofore unpassable terrain. 'The disabled community is my passion but there are so many parallel use cases,' Twichel says. 'It's not as niche as it was maybe conceived.' Indeed, the mats have been used by people pushing strollers and pulling coolers, and have been sold in almost 20 countries.
Almost every hotel and tourist attraction likes to say it's accessible—sometimes to just check a regulatory box—but do they truly accommodate wide ranges of disabilities? AccessNow is a crowdsource-driven platform where people report their experiences through the lens of their own specific needs, from such basics as wheelchair access to the less obvious, like sink heights and light sensitivity—and across environments ranging from neighborhood pharmacies to hiking trails. The platform was launched in 2015 by Toronto native Maayan Ziv, who has muscular dystrophy and has used a wheelchair since by the disabled for the disable, it goes well beyond what Google and AirBnb provide. Users can find reviews and maps from 100 different countries. 'It really looks to engage people to action instead of being a passive player in accessibility,' Ziv says. How impactful is AccessNow and Ziv's personal voice? Last year, she was awarded Canada's Meritorious Service Cross, an honor just below the Royal Order of Canada.
When you see a wheelchair ramp extend from a minivan or taxi, or see someone in a wheelchair get securely strapped into their disabled spot on a bus, chances are BraunAbility is behind the technology. Through partnerships with major car manufacturers like Toyota and Chrysler, as well as hospitals and municipal transportation systems, BraunAbility designs and outfits vehicles with the lifts and ramps that can be deployed hands-free. Its products are used in more than 50 countries on six continents and have generated more than $1 billion in sales. Their next frontier is helping design airplanes that allow people to fly in their own wheelchairs, rather than a standard seat, which is not just uncomfortable but potentially injurious—and be able to wheel themselves to the bathroom without being carried down the aisle.
Courtesy of Simon Oschwald
While some prosthetic legs can cost $30,000 or more, Circleg's products are far more affordable for users—or the insurance companies that can stonewall on prices—and therefore more widespread globally. (In Africa, where war and illness cause a disproportional need, a Circleg prosthetic can cost just $600.) The Zurich-based company is known for extraordinarily stable and lightweight knee joints that can withstand rough terrain, as well as a 'dynamic' foot that goes beyond a single piece of material by returning energy through a spring-type heel. Circleg doesn't merely sell prosthetics—it also cultivates a spirit of empowerment among users. 'To really support someone with an amputation, it has to go beyond the product,' says co-founder Simon Oschwald. 'There's psychosocial support, the building community, the journey with information and knowledge.'
Whereas many companies focus on prosthetic feet and legs that provide primarily mobility, Koalaa's hand- and arm-related swappable prosthetics allow people to perform more specific tasks, such as stirring pasta, doing pushups or playing guitar. (One for toddlers, with furry outer sleeves that look like the arms of kangaroos or Dalmatians, help them push walkers and steer scooters.) A relatively permanent prosthetic operates as an arm, while different modules—functioning as different types of hands or finger grips—can be easily attached. Says Nate Macabuag, Koalaa's founder, 'What do people want to do? What were their experiences before, what can the experience be now, and can we close that delta?' Whereas it can take up to six months for an amputee's limb to be ready for a hard prosthetic, Koalaa's far softer 'Day 1' sleeve can be used just hours after surgery.
Wheelchairs can provide independent transportation. But for their occupant to travel safely in a vehicle—they can't brace themselves properly for a fall, or get themselves up afterward—only the strongest securement straps and other devices will do. Q'Straint designs the vast majority of systems in accessible cars, vans, buses and other transportation that keep people in wheelchairs as safe, often even more so, than any other passenger. The technology can be used in autonomous vehicles to deploy automatically, no aide required, and when airplanes allow people in wheelchairs to park themselves in a dedicated spot (which is several years away), Q'Straint will be ready. 'We work with cities as well and train them directly,' says Patrick Girardin, Q'Straint's co-president. 'We're making safety accessible.'
Courtesy of Pierre Paul
Sometimes 'opening doors' means, simply, opening doors. We Hear You specializes in doing just that with remarkable ease. Its hardware—a simple box-and-hinge that can take just four screws and 15 minutes to install at the top of the door—can let a home, office or hotel make doors swing open hands-free. (It's so portable that the user can bring it on trips to make any door temporarily automatic, then be removed with ease.) Software can make already automatic doors activate with a simple key fob or device voice command, not a clunky wall button. The solutions can add automatic doors for people who are only temporarily disabled, like those on crutches after breaking an ankle. Wyndham Hotels, Victoria's Secret and the St. Louis Cardinals have been among We Hear You's first customers.
It seems as if every few months a company announces some $1,200 gadget that will 'change the lives!' of blind and low-vision people, only to be no better than a traditional $10 walking cane. And in some ways WeWalk's first 'smart cane' was one of those. But the revamped WeWalk2, released this year, really could become a game-changing navigation device. The cane vibrates and beeps when the bulb at the end of the cane detects an approaching obstacle like a pedestrian or tree. It pairs via Bluetooth to a phone app that can be controlled from the cane—just speak into the handle, 'Where's the nearest bus stop?'—that supplies its user with live, step-by-step directions to any location. Integration with ChatGPT also provides information through the cane without the need to pull out a phone. The device isn't cheap, with two models priced at $850 and $1,150, but as improvements are made and prices come down it could well become a successor to that $10 cane after all.
Courtesy of Alvaro Silberstein
When it comes to traveling the world, people with disabilities can't just wing it and find themselves at a hotel without a wheelchair-accessible lobby, or a natural landmark impossible to navigate with a walking cane. Wheel the World is an Expedia-like travel platform that researches, verifies and reviews the accessibility features of hotels and other destinations across the globe, from sink heights and door widths to places that the sensorially sensitive might find overwhelming. It partners with cruise lines and tour companies to ensure appropriate transportation and amenities—good luck finding a wheelchair-accessible taxi to the Acropolis—and has worked with cities like Fort Lauderdale and Scottsdale to improve accessibility at the civic level. All of this, says Wheel the World CEO Alvaro Silberstein, not only serves travelers but boosts providers' bottom lines: 'Disability inclusion has a positive return on investment. This isn't an ideological discussion of whether it's DEI or not.'
