Wheeling Around the GTA – Our new series

“Know thy user” is a mantra well-known to anyone in the field of product development. As a founder of a new start-up that develops accessible technologies for independent mobility, and as someone who has never experienced a mobility impairment except for the occasional and minor knee injuries, I realised that I needed to better understand the accessibility challenges of my users before I attempted to come up with solutions. I figured a good way to do this was to experience first-hand what it is like to drive around the Greater Toronto Area in a wheelchair.

In our blog series called “Wheeling around the GTA”, my team members and I share our various trips within the GTA – the good, the bad, and the ugly. As all of my team members would agree, we noticed several issues (some related to the environment, and others related to mindsets and attitudes) that we perhaps would never have recognized if it wasn’t for our (brief) lived experiences in wheeling around.

We hope that this blog brings some of these issues to the forefront for those who are unaware of them, in addition to providing a public platform where others can share their own accessibility challenges, or those of their loved ones. If you have a story to share, please contact us and write for our blog!