service downtown, and expects to add one
in Linden by year’s end. But there’s more to
a city than its most crowded corridor.
IN AN OFFICE PARK ABOUT 10 MILES FROM
downtown Columbus (a 25-minute drive, a
$20 ride-share, or a 1.25-hour bus trip), you’ll
find Arc Industries North, which helps con-
nect people with cognitive and physical
disabilities to jobs. Inside, Jose, 48 , whose last
name is withheld to protect his privacy, shows
off a film he made about the internships he
held this past summer. From the other side of
the table where he sits, occupational-therapy
student Olivia Vega smiles as pictures flash on
his computer screen: Jose handing out maps
to zoo- goers, Jose mugging next to a tiger or
working with the city parks department. The
images transition to slides of white text on
blue background, explaining the work he did.
What goes unmentioned is the difficulty Jose
faced getting to and from those jobs.
That’s where Vega came in. Her program
at Ohio State University partnered with
Smart Columbus to tailor a navigation app
for residents with cognitive disabilities. Last
summer, Jose and the other interns began
testing the app, called WayFinder, and of-
fered suggestions to its developers.
WayFinder—made by AbleLink Tech-
nologies and available nationally—is like a
customized Google Maps. It displays routes
that caretakers and travel trainers preprogram
in, following GPS waypoints along the way
and enhanced by text, vibrating alerts, au-
dio cues (“You’re halfway to work” and “This
looks like your stop, but don’t be fooled”), and
pictures of landmarks.
Jose finds WayFinder far better than con-
ventional map apps: “What GPS does is get
people lost,” he says. With this app, “you
say, ‘WayFinder, show me the best way to
get to’ a specific place.” Like the mall. “And
it takes you directly to the mall.”
Before WayFinder, Jose stayed close to
home—inside a small radius that included
a Panera Bread, Walmart, and Half Price
Books—all places he could reach on foot. Nowhe can go wherever the bus goes. He found out
he likes antique shops, Tim Horton’s, and the
Ohio-themed food truck downtown.
“I’ll definitely keep using it,” he says of the
app. “Especially here in the city, or if I want
to take a tour of a national park. I really want to
see the Smithsonian.”
City residents with physical disabilities,
like Nicole Williams from Linden, still face
challenges. If her son misses the bus, there’s
no reliable way for her to help him get to
school. She can’t ride a scooter or a bike, or
drive a car. Paratransit rides aren’t depend-
able. Waiting for an accessible ride-share
takes much longer than a regular one, an issue
at the heart of several lawsuits against Uber.
In the end, transportation that works for
people who face impediments of any kind—
whether they have a disability or they just
don’t have a car—benefits everyone. When
you fix the first and last miles of any journey,
for anybody, the rest of that journey, and the
destination, are more accessible, no matter
who you are or where you want to go.GETTING THERE