Paving the way
By Dan Hutchinson
Daisy Hoe, 17, is designing an app-based system for people in wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Photo: Dan Hutchinson
A Taupō teenager is designing an app that will help those in wheelchairs and mobility scooters to identify the best and worst aspects of accessibility in the towns they live in.
Daisy Hoe, 17, has been a full-time wheelchair user her whole life so she knows firsthand the challenges of getting around.
She has been brewing an idea for several years and this year, the Taupō-nui-a-Tia student enrolled in the Young Enterprise Scheme, which gives her an outlet for the project.
Called Go Able, the app will be based on maps, with routes and locations rated by user feedback and reviews.
Routes will then be colour coded so other users can plan the best possible trip.
She is surprised that something similar isn’t already developed by those with more resources.
“I think the fact that it takes me, someone who is in a wheelchair, to have to do this as a craft project. I think that's quite telling enough to how little care there is in that aspect of things.”
She says getting around Taupō can be challenging at times.
“I think there's places that attempt to be helpful, but they vary, and I think the accessibility checks aren't always the truth which is why I want Go Able to show if it's true or not … Go Able is more the tool that I wish I had when I was younger.”
She says public bathrooms are often a challenge.
“It's very hard to get into them when you need them and I find, often times they are not occupied by someone that needs them which is very challenging.”
She says a lot of places have ramps for access, but they are not always connected seamlessly, with bumps, or other hazards to content with.
Shopping aisles are invariably too narrow with not enough room at the end to turn around.
Her project will initially focus on Taupō because she knows the town so well, but she wants to expand the idea to the whole country.
She is reaching out to people in the tech world to help with the project and it has been placing on the regional podium of top projects so far through each stage of the Young Enterprise Scheme.
She has also been awarded a scholarship to help her fund the project further and has applied for other funding as well.
The app will have a unique leaderboard feature to promote top-rated businesses, encouraging them to improve accessibility and rewarding those who lead the way.
“For me, accessibility isn’t a niche - it’s a necessity. This tool should have existed from day one and I’m determined to make it happen.”
Having been a wheelchair user her whole life there were things that she couldn’t do and that has fuelled the idea.