For individuals with disabilities, finding restaurants that can accomodate their needs can be challenging, and advance planning is often required.
Different disabilities require different needs that vary from person to person.
Many restaurants offer accessible options, but it can be difficult to find that information.

Modify existing platforms, such as Google Maps, to more clearly display the each restaurants accessibility information.
Make it easy to sort restaurants by the accessibility options they offer.
Increased visibility encourages more restaurants to make their establishments accessible, and to make that information easily available to the public.

Research | Design | User Testing
UX/UI Lead
User Research Lead
In collaboration with Yun Gao, Tairan Hao, Gaby Montes, and Jiafeng Di
Developed at the University of Pennsylvania as part of the Design for Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility course.

How might we address the barriers that exist for people with disabilities when dining out?

Over the course of a semester. our team worked with two local members of the disabled community, Simone and Barbara, to identify a problem area, and design a product or service that addressed this issue.

Our two mentors had very different disabilities, but we wanted to find an area where their experiences overlapped. After extensive conversations and research, we determined that both Simone and Barbara had multiple negative expereinces when finding new places to eat, particularly in regards to casual dining, and finding restaurants that could accomodate them without significant advance planning.

Key Areas to Address

Must increase ease of access for a variety of disabilites

Must be easy to learn and use

Must be financially accessible

Must not increase the burden on the user

Must be easily portable (if physical product)

Must be useable at multiple dining establishments

Must be practical and realistic

Final Solution

Our team realized that the best solution wasn’t a new product, but instead a revised version of a product that was already being used:
Google Maps.

Our research showed that a significant number of both disabled and able-bodied people were using Google Maps, or a comparable app, to find restaurant options, particularly when they were already out and about. The difference was that our disabled users were not able to find out important information for the restaurants around them, like whether they had large format menus, or good options for restrictive diets. By simply adding more filters and changing the hierarchy of information available, our team was able to redesign Google Maps to create an easier and more informative experience for users with a wide range of needs and abilities, with the potential to add more options in the future.