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An open-air mapathon was held in Yerevan today aimed at mapping the city accessible places for people with disability. The event was organized by Kolba Innovation laboratory and “Armenian Camp” NGO attended by beginners and experienced mappers, people with disability and parents with prams.

Varduhi Aramyan, representative of the “Armenian Camp” NGO told Panorama.am that during the mapathon the participants simply take a photo of any wheelchair-friendly place, tag the location and describe why the place is accessible. Thus, the participants help people in wheelchairs or using walking sticks, and even bikers or parents strolling with a pram, to learn about the accessible places without having to leave home.

“Accessible city initiative is aimed mainly at the accessibility of capital Yerevan, considering the ramps and wheelchair lifts under construction by the means of the city budget and all those costs which are used for improving the city accessibility. For that purpose a monitoring of the city ramps have been conducted to develop matcheli.am website as well as the mobile application Matcheli Vayrer to help the users to upload any relevant information and use it,” Aramyan added.

Marina Mkhitaryan, Head of Kolba Innovation Laboratory said: “We see few people with disability around us and in the streets, since they are simply unable to go to street, as some places have steps and stairs that hinder access to the buildings and public spaces or simply the entrance doors are too narrow”.