Aug 18, 2020
Do you speak Sociability?
How would you start a global movement? For the past two months, we’ve been highlighting the great work of disability advocates & activists across the UK — from comedians to sportspeople to heads of disability rights organisations. We know a #ChangeIsComing — not just through Sociability, but more broadly. It’s time to put disability equality on the map.
It’s important to drive change from a variety of different angles. Our friends at the Valuable 500, founded by Caroline Casey, have been working tirelessly for the last 18 months to ensure that disability has a voice in the most influential board rooms in the world. Similarly, we’ve seen Toyota — one of our partners — launch a new brand focused on inclusive mobility. Kinto — Toyota’s third brand (after Lexus & Toyota itself) signals a step change in disability leadership from major corporations. It’s a fantastic sign that the wheels of change are starting to spin in the favour of disabled people everywhere — and gives us great hope that Sociability can nicely complement some of the great work being done around the world!
For us, starting a movement involves 3 key steps:
- Raising awareness
- Proposing solutions
- Providing tools
It’s time to take the third step.
Today, we want to highlight one of the most important tools of change — our language.
Today, we’re going to teach you how to speak Sociability — the new language of accessibility.
We’ve never had a common language around accessibility before. When I say accessibility, my friend Rahul thinks of braille. When he says accessibility, I think of wheelchair access. And so on. Accessibility is such a broad term, with so many different and valid interpretations, that it can often become meaningless — particularly when we let perfect become the enemy of the good.
At Sociability, we’re not simply building a platform — we’re building a new approach to conceptualising, explaining & cataloguing accessibility. We’re building a movement — and that requires a common language & framework. That’s why, we think it’s time to lean how to #SpeakSociability!
First, we’ll highlight the three key features of our app. Then, next week, we’ll get into the details of what each can do.
1) Find your place
Sociability helps you find accessible places. But, more importantly, it helps you find your place — to be comfortable, to be confident and to be included. You can find your place by exploring our map or by searching directly for a venue type, venue name or location.
2) Tag venues
You don’t need to be a professional access auditor to use Sociability! More to the point, we don’t want you to be!
Sociability is designed to be non-disabled user-friendly. Anyone can add accessibility information to any venue in under 2 minutes. Simply click the + button to add tags, photos or reviews about a venue’s accessibility. Our intuitive interface will guide you through the questions you need to answer — in the right level of detail & accuracy too. All you need to do is remember where you went!
A picture is worth a thousand words. That’s why, we always encourage our users to add photos wherever possible and to use as much detail as possible. Plus, the more tags, photos & reviews that you add, the more badges you’ll win. Earn your Sociability Stripes fast!
3) Share links
Finally, Sociability is all about #MakingRoomForInclusion — both online & offline. When you’ve found your accessible place — don’t just tag it, share it! Tell your friends & family & lovers & nemeses — everywhere is better when you’re with another.
Simply click to share a direct link to a venue’s Sociability profile, or to you own user profile so others can see where you’ve been and what you’ve tagged.
Additionally, you can get all your favourite people on the same page through Sociability Teams! Invite friends to tag places together, curate lists of your favourite places & compare badges with mates to see who is the real Sociability Superstar!
Eh, voila! It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3! Next week, we’ll dive into each element in a bit more detail and share some sneak peeks at our shiny new app too. We’re so excited about this — we can’t wait to get Sociability into your hands! Let’s change how we think about accessibility & inclusion by changing how we speak about it.
So, remember, ask your friends & family if they #SpeakSociability? If not, make sure you send them our way!
It’s time to join the movement. Will you help make the world a more Sociable place for all?
#SpeakSociability #ShareSociability #NewNormal #MakeRoomForInclusion #GrantAccessForAll #AccessForAll #Disability #Wheelchair #Inclusion #SocialInclusion
Originally published at https://www.sociability.app on August 18, 2020.
