Contact:
Jesse Lore
City University of NY
Phone: 718-213-1776
http://ive.cuny.edu/any
accessibleny@gmail.com
CUNY and IVE Launch New Cutting-Edge Social Networking Website to Promote Universal Access
Twenty years ago this month, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, guaranteeing for the first time equal rights to people with disabilities in America. In the ensuing decades, many strides have been made to make our society more accessible to the more than 60 million Americans with disabilities. But still so many restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, museums, and other destinations where people dine, stay, and play are inaccessible to people with disabilities, leaving one in five Americans, and one in seven New Yorkers, out of one of the most vibrant marketplaces in the world.
Now, an innovative group of students aims to change that with the website they are launching this month: Accessible New York.
The City University of New York and the Institute of Virtual Enterprise have empowered a group of student leaders to develop this website that provides a platform for people with disabilities to find information on the accessibility of destinations and to provide ratings of these destinations themselves. Combining approaches like Zagat’s Restaurant Guide with social networking and crowd sourcing guides like Yelp and Menupages, these students have built a database of nearly two hundred venues, rating them on everything from their accessible entrances and restrooms to their braille menus and customer service.
You can check out the website yourself at http://ive.cuny.edu/any, where you can search and find these destinations, read the ratings, provide your own, and even peruse staff blogs. For more information, email accessiblenewyork@gmail.com
Tags: accessibility, social networking, technology
Hi Amalia,
I’m pretty sure that the comments from “social networking script” and “Sammie B. Chow” are spam. Please check out this post for some ways to figure out whether a comment is spam or not: http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wiki/index.php/Commons_Guide_to_Blogging_-_Spam_Comment
If you agree that those comments are spam, please delete them.
Congratulations on getting the website up and going — and sorry to so quickly add pressure for another platform! But, just to be clear, I was suggesting that you develop a mobile application, like an app that could be downloaded to an iPhone or Android device.
Hi,
I would definitely look forward to your comment about our social network. We are just starting. Our main goal is to increase awareness about accessiblity and hopefully create a network that is interested in expanding our mission!
HI Sammie,
Thanks for your comment. I agree. There needs to be a balance between face to face and online communication. The best thing about online communication is the way that it unites us, all in cyber space. Everyday communication is not done online, it’s done face to face. Those skills are very much needed. We hope to increase awareness about accessibility and encourage businesses to be more friendly to individuals with disabilities both online and face to face!
We actually just got the website up. The website and all of the components were mainly created by CUNY students who want to improve accessiblity. We are looking for feedback. Thanks for contributing! Developing a mobile device is a great idea! I’ll bring it back to the students.
I’m a big fan of social networking! I really like the way sites like Facebook have evolved over the years and the great new features that are in the works to make other sites work well toegether.
Remember when kids actually went outside to play…now everything is done in front of a computer. I miss the good old days!
Thanks for using the Commons to spread the word about this resource, which looks great. I’m sure that it will be of great use to many people out there.
Do you guys have any plans to develop for mobile devices?