A world without borders – interactive map for people with disabilities
October is right around the corner. It is also recognized as the National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) as a way to commemorate the many and varied contributions of people with disabilities to America’s workplaces and economy.
But why do we need a special day or an exclusive month to bring awareness to the important things?
The Croatian Liberato Association (Udruga Liberato) aims to improve the life quality of disabled people and has designed and developed an interactive map for the easier and safer movement of people with various disabilities.
“We imagine a world in which the most vulnerable in society, people with disabilities, have an interactive information platform to help them overcome obstacles; and every space will be available to everyone in every city in the future,” states the official website of the Liberato Association.
Currently, there are approximately 87 million people with disabilities in the European Union. For now, the interactive map is still available only in Croatia, covering the needs of a very small part of people with disabilities.
Anyone who wants to contribute to the map can contact the founder of the project directly at stipo@udruga-liberato.hr.
Stipo Margić founded the Liberato Association in 2019 after he won the first prize for the “Capallble” project at the StartIT @ PICS academy, organized by Split-Dalmatia County as part of the ICT County project. After a neurological disease left him in a wheelchair, Stipo is dedicated to helping other people with disabilities, sticking to his motto for “World without borders“.
“Our first project is now known as the Liberato Map, an interactive map with information on the accessibility of locations for people with disabilities. With it, we wanted to increase the number of people with disabilities in everyday activities, primarily young people in higher education. Currently, the association has 20 members, and in the daily work of the association, in addition to my colleague Mija Matijević and me, there is a final year sociology student Ivana Vladušić,” says Stipo Margić for Novac HR.
Stipo highlights also that healthy people often do not see and do not understand the needs of people with disabilities, therefore, the latter should voice out and communicate their shortcomings directly.
