Mobile Me – Mapathon
Authored by Georgina Naigulevu 03/12/2019
Today’s celebration of International Day of People with Disabilities at our local Park and various remote island areas in Fiji , held an historic event whereby all the local Disability People Organizations came together with Community Volunteers to map out walkways and pavements using their mobile to collect data in pairs.
A Team consisted of 5 Persons with disabilities (blind, deaf, spinal injury, intellectual, physio-social) partnered with 5 abled persons (young university students, volunteering professionals from corporates, individuals that came in from rural areas) to share their experiences of a street and record their feedback into using a quick mapping tool to do an accessibility audit as a competition – Street Level Map-a-thon. This was not an easy task as there were 10 Teams and at the same time on the beautiful island of Taveuni – there were similar participants using the mobile app and sending photos of their own celebration to create an Accessibility Map for Fiji.
There soon will be a documentary to be released on how the event started from being an Idea discussed at a Pacific Connect Dialogue – Fiji for “Technology enabling inclusiveness” to what it is today with video interviews showing how mindsets and perceptions were changed as everyone worked together.
Videos and Posts are available on this links for your interest:
Mobile Me Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/mobilememapathon/
ICDP Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/InternationalCentreforDemocraticPartnerships
Our local DPOs were able to showcase their achievements and it was amazing to see some of the products that some of the women had crafted and displayed to sell. Fiji Disabled People’s Organization had launched their own documentary and magazine that showcased their creative talents.
It is my hope and dream through this Project where Suva as a pilot site creates a story that will be an inspiration to others. The accessibility data collected will be used shared with DPO stakeholders as it is a stock take of what we have and where we as a community can build up. #Digital_Inclusion #FutureIsAccessible