Discovering a new world without barriers
Planat app helps everyone with mobility restrictions find accessible destinations
My eyes have been opened to an entire other side of travel after attending the World Summit on Accessible Travel in Montreal in 2014.
Now I look at the places I visit through different eyes.
The need for accessible destinations abroad and in your own city is so important and the need continues to grow as the population ages. Accessibility encompasses more than just those who you may think.
It includes people such as moms with strollers and the aging population who have physical needs, minor or major ones, cognitive needs and a range of other needs that are more common than special these days.
Now, there is an app that can help travellers with restrictions reach their destinations. Planat is an online tool that allows users to view and rate the accessibility of places worldwide. This is an initiative started by the Rick Hansen Foundation in 2011 after the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver.
Just as you would use apps to review or comment on a restaurant or destination, Planat (derived from Plan Where You’re At) can provide much needed accessibility reviews that can help people prepare for their trips, or even local choices, and make life better.
It’s also a tool that businesses can use to promote their access while gathering valuable feedback to make improvements.
Currently, Planat has around 45,000 venues listed across 14 countries worldwide, says Marco Pasqua, the marketing and community manager for Planat.
There are more than 14,000 community reviews in their database. And these numbers will continue to increase as more people and businesses engage with this website.
This innovation is one step closer toward its goal of creating an accessible and inclusive society.
Planat is not just for those that have accessible needs; it’s also for their friends and family, as everyone is affected by the accessibility of a destination.
Planat has been proactive in building the content for the site. They’ve had a one-on-one team on the ground in Vancouver working with businesses to assess accessibility and to verify for the site that the information for the destination is correct.
Another goal of Planat is to educate businesses to be more inclusive. It’s about redefining disability sensibility training and educating employees to better understand everyone’s needs. And to know things about what their restaurant/hotel/destination offers to their customers with accessibility needs. Did you know that McDonald’s offers its menu in braille?
Along with working with businesses, the reviews on Planat help those businesses better understand what changes they need to make to ensure customers are happy and their business is accessible.
Currently funded by the Rick Hansen Foundation, Planat is trying to secure capital investors and create premium services on the site, along with integration with Google Places.
Planat website is mobile friendly and just like Yelp, users can rate a location via their mobile devices. Planat is working towards an app that will make the rating and commenting process even easier and more mobile.
The Planat website also offers information and commentary about accessibility through their insightful and blossoming blog.
Like nothing else in the Canadian market place currently, Planat offers a great collection of user-generated information for local, national and international destinations. Anne-Marie Marais is a Toronto-based travel writer. Follow her on Twitter @LongLegsTravels and read more at LongLegsTravel.com.