Google and Airbnb Are Providing Better Navigation to Help Disabled Users 

By Kashish Ambekar - Published on March 22, 2018

Google Maps and Airbnb both declared new services this week that aim to make life simpler for individuals with mobility challenges. About 20 percent of individuals in the U.S are handicap, as indicated by U.S. Registration Bureau information, with the greater part of those detailing an “extreme” handicap. Against that background, innovation organizations are pushing to make their administrations more available to those with different incapacities and impairments.

Recently, Airbnb reported an update to its shared property rental platform, acquainting 21 new accessibility channels which make it less demanding for those with inabilities to discover accommodation in view of particular search criteria. Previously, travelers could scan for “wheelchair open” postings, but now they can limit homes around numerous more factors, including whether disabled parking is accessible, whether each room has step free access, or whether there is a roll-in in shower with seat.

“As a person with disabilities and passionate traveler, I am hugely excited by the changes we’re making at Airbnb,” the company’s Accessibility Product and Program Manager, Srin Madipalli, said in a statement. “With these new filters, we are making it easier for everyone to share their adapted homes with travelers with disabilities around the world. Our mission is to enable anyone to belong anywhere, regardless of disability.”

Likewise, Google announced it was including “wheelchair accessible” courses to travel routes in Google Maps yesterday. When you activate this element in settings, Maps will change its suggested courses in view of how open a station is, for instance. This element is only available in New York, London, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston, and Sydney for the time being, yet it will arrive in more urban areas later on.

Airbnb said it intends to work with visitors and hosts to guarantee these new channels offer valuable, precise data. Going ahead, the organization intends to “improve and expand the filters to ensure they support as many travelers as possible.” This news comes after Airbnb obtained London-based startup Accomable, a stage for surfacing convenience that has availability at its center.

Kashish Ambekar | Kashish moved to the United Arab Emirates from London after he graduated from UEL with a Masters of Business Administration specializing in Finance. Money smelled good, although tipping in rubies was a fortune in Dubai, which he couldn’t afford, let alone implement. India happened naturally by birth and the ever developing market proved no bounds in almost every Industry. The art of writing came naturally to him, short stories to professional articles in lieu of being therapeutic once, to a full time content writer. Currently he freelances as a content writer and is extremely devoted as his thoughts have found a way to be penned for technology in support to TechFunnel.com.

Kashish Ambekar | Kashish moved to the United Arab Emirates from London after he graduated from UEL with a Masters of Business Administration specializing in Finance...

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