AccessibleNYC is an initiative started under Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2016, in an effort to make New York City the most accessible city in the world.
Most of New York City’s public transit system is not accessible-friendly, making it difficult for people with disabilities to navigate.
The Accessible NYC app aims to create a personalized experience based on accessibility type, interests, and needs.
For the first phase of the project, we focused on 3 main disabilities: Hearing, mobility, and vision impaired users.
At first, we assumed that our users would benefit from having interactive screens with helpful navigation information across the city. However, after interviewing them, we found out that it can be overwhelming instead of beneficial due to many factors like inaccessible height, complicated touch screens, and more.
The accessibility FAB allows users to adjust how content is presented to them based on their needs.
The onboarding process serves as an opportunity to get to know our user’s needs and personalize the app experience for each user.
We found that our users need to know information regarding accessibility features like wheelchair-accessible entrances or audio descriptive services before heading out to their destination, which can be a tiresome process. The homepage features information about venues and events to make planning easier.
This feature transcribes MTA alerts in case of unexpected route changes or emergency announcements through sound recognition.
We want to enable a safe place for like-minded individuals to interact, share their experiences, and support each other through our community.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person social interactions have become harder. We want to enable social interactions through live streams where anyone can create content.
