Armani (far right), her mother Zuraini (far left) and sister Izzati (fifth from left) holding the IncluCity placard with former senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
IMAGINE being in a wheelchair, on crutches or using a cane and needing to get somewhere quickly.
Unfortunately, numerous barriers and obstructions often make this nearly impossible.
To make matters worse, the infrastructure meant to assist you often falls short.
This is the reality for many persons with disabilities (PwDs), where daily life is filled with all sorts of obstacles and challenges.
While there are guidelines, known as MS1184, to ensure that buildings and facilities are designed and constructed to be accessible and usable by everyone, including individuals with various types of disabilities, there are still many venues and buildings that do not comply.
Finding the ones that do can be tricky as there is no database available.
One woman plans to change this through a website called IncluCity, a crowdsourced mapping platform dedicated to promoting accessibility and inclusion, especially for people with disabilities.
“IncluCity will also act as a resource portal where venues can sync with service providers to help them become more accessible,” said IncluCity founder Armani Shahrin.
“We believe that accessibility is not just a legal requirement but a fundamental human right,” she said.
“We are empowering PwDs and anyone who needs it, so that everyone can thrive without barriers.”
While Armani aims to develop a full-fledged app, the platform is currently accessible via the website inclucity.my
“People can access it and input data on places that are accessible, as well as the places they want to visit and hope to make accessible,” Armani said.
“The website is currently online, and people can see the first few venues submitted by the public as potential places to hang out.”
Armani added that apart from collecting data, they also hope to reach out to companies to help make their venues friendly to everyone, not just PwDs but also senior citizens as well as mothers with strollers.
“We will keep updating the website. As we go along, people can make informed decisions on where they want to go, and IncluCity will also aim to provide information about the accessibility features of various locations,” she said.
At an event to launch IncluCity, Armani said she has been working with her mother, Zuraini Anuar, who founded the We and I Art Festival to celebrate the diverse talents of PwD.
“My mother also created ‘We and I Art’, a platform selling artworks by PwD artists, including my sister Izzati Shahrin, who is an artist with autism and Down Syndrome. I was very inspired by this,” she said.
During the Covid-19 movement control order, Armani created NakSeni, a social enterprise aimed at selling artworks created by people with disabilities online.
“After the MCO was lifted, I realised that it was challenging to organise events or cater to individuals with all sorts of disabilities within one venue.
“We had to look for disabled-friendly venues and work with them to see if they could instal ramps and other necessary modifications, and that’s how the idea for the IncluCity platform came about,” she said.
Armani was able to push forward with her idea when she won a grant in the Creative Kuala Lumpur Grants Programme, a project under Think City, to address urban challenges faced in Kuala Lumpur.
“With the funding I received from the grant, I was able to develop the website,” added Armani.
