SIDEWALK WITH DRIVEWAY

HEAVEN AND HELL

The first example has a level, PROWAG-compliant surface — then an angled drive. 

It is heaven.

The one on the bottom is an endless driveway — beveled for an entire lot on a busy corridor.

The hellish one can tumble a wheelchair user into deadly traffic.

The city of Miami has dozens of not hundreds of miles of severely angled sidewalks — even in major pedestrian corridors  

Because we all know its worth having a few people with disabilities killed by tumbling into traffic — than it is for SUVs to have a slightly bumpy ride entering a driveway. 

MEET THE WHEELCHAIR USER MAKING GOOGLE MAPS MORE ACCESSIBLE

SASHA BLAIR-GOLDENSOHN

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn points to spoken walking-directions, originally developed for blind/low vision users.

In a big city — with noise, cyclists, traffic, trains, distractions — it’s safer and more efficient for everyone to listen to directional instructions instead of staring into their phones when crossing busy streets.

The feature wasn’t developed for wheelchair users either, but it’s a whole lot easier to keep pushing when a friendly computer voice is telling you where to go instead of having to stop and swipe at your phone every few blocks.

For Blair-Goldensohn, whose work revolves around universal design, it’s hard to understand why you would do things any other way.

To him, working toward a world that can be accessed by everyone, benefits everyone. “Solidarity is powerful,” he says.

 

 

 

MEET THE WHEELCHAIR USER MAKING GOOGLE MAPS MORE ACCESSIBLE

SASHA BLAIR-GOLDENSOHN

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn said that if Google Maps plots and reviews 40 million places around the world, it needs AI to look at trends and other statistics to say, for example, there’s a 96% probability that a place is accessible in its present condition.

Without AI, thousands of people would have to analyze millions of spreadsheets.

The work Blair-Goldensohn is doing is based on his experience as a wheelchair user and is in response to the needs of people with disabilities.

But just like functioning subway elevators also make travel safer for parents pushing strollers, he hopes the accessibility features his team develops can make travel better for a wide range of people.

 

 

MEET THE WHEELCHAIR USER MAKING GOOGLE MAPS MORE ACCESSIBLE

SASHA BLAIR-GOLDENSOHN

To make sure the data that users generate is accurate, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn is reaching back into his AI tool bag.

“AI can be really helpful and in ways that you wouldn’t maybe expect around accessibility, but not always in a gee-whiz, flashy technology way,” he says.

“For instance, we use machine learning to resolve ambiguities based on data.

Like, if there’s a bar where users gave four ‘yeses’ saying it’s accessible, one ‘no,’ but the merchant reports ‘yes,’ what should we do? In order to referee these things in a principled way, we use [machine learning] to determine the probability based on past examples, and if the next three votes are all ‘yes’ — mark it accessible.”

MEET THE WHEELCHAIR USER MAKING GOOGLE MAPS MORE ACCESSIBLE

SASHA BLAIR-GOLDENSOHN

Google Maps relies on its users to provide data on everything from business features to route timing and navigation details.

Ahead of this summer’s Paralympics, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn’s team has been meeting with Paralympic athletes to educate them about the accessibility features on Google Maps and document their experiences using the service in a foreign country.

He says his team wants “to tell the story of Maps and how it makes it easier to get around Paris.

We’re not only talking the track, velodrome and Paralympic venues, but how to get around the city’s bistros, nightclubs, museums.

We want to look at tools for how you plan a visit to an unfamiliar city. We will document it and share it back with Google.”

According to Blair-Goldensohn, the future of accessible mapping will have more details on routes.

Just like Google Maps can toggle to map the journey via car, public transit or on foot, it is evolving to include routes that are 100% wheelchair accessible.

MEET THE WHEELCHAIR USER MAKING GOOGLE MAPS MORE ACCESSIBLE

SASHA BLAIR-GOLDENSOHN

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn praises his employer’s commitment to accessibility.

He said the tech giant’s Accessibility and Disability Inclusion Week has expanded to a whole month.

In 2022, Google opened its Accessibility Discovery Centre in London.

Headed by Chrsitopher Patnoe, the facility is a space where Google’s engineers and developers work alongside people with disabilities to research, develop and test assistive technologies and make existing products more accessible.

It’s also become a hub for other companies and organizations learning how to make their products and services accessible.

Patnoe says 2,700 visitors from outside Google have toured the facility and discussed inclusive design, and Google plans to open six more accessibility centers across Europe.

MEET THE WHEELCHAIR USER MAKING GOOGLE MAPS MORE ACCESSIBLE

SASHA BLAIR-GOLDENSOHN

Working in a place that values inclusion has been a gratifying experience for Sasha Blair-Goldensohn.

He says that during ADI month, Google CEO Sundar Pachai sent out a video companywide, and the accessible-places feature on Maps was the first thing Pachai mentioned.

“I thought, ‘That’s my project, that’s our team — we did it,’ and I was so proud and grateful to be part of something that has input from people around the world,” says Blair-Goldensohn.