# NYC Accessbility 

[**Project Lead:**](https://github.com/Data4Democracy/read-this-first/blob/master/lead-role-description.md) [@bkey](https://datafordemocracy.slack.com/messages/@bkey/)[@henripal](https://datafordemocracy.slack.com/messages/@henripal/)

The NYC Accessibility project encompasses two sets of tools:

* Mine social media for accessibility information: Investigate scraping sites like Yelp, Foursquare, and Twitter for details about accessibility at specific locations and generating automatic readings for a site like [AXS Map](http://www.axsmap.com/)

* MTA Accessibility: Scrape the output of the MTA regarding the availability and maintentance status of elevators, escalators, and other affordances for those with mobility impairments. Present it in a more usable format. (Start with [NYC Subways and Buses EE Outage System](http://advisory.mtanyct.info/EEoutage/).)

## Background

Some of the initial motivation for this project came from these news pieces:

* [New York City has a great subway if you're not in a wheelchair](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/opinion/new-york-has-a-great-subway-if-youre-not-in-a-wheelchair.html) (NY Times)
* [This man's epic quest for a rainbow bagel makes a crucial point about accessibility](http://mashable.com/2017/03/23/rainbow-bagel-quest-cerebral-palsy-zach-anner/#AbVvvgdNqPqA) (Mashable)
* [#CripTax: Hidden costs of being disabled](https://storify.com/SFdirewolf/criptax-hidden-costs-of-being-disabled) (Storify)

The initial work for these projects was done at the first NYC D4D hackathon.

## Getting Started

1. If you haven't already, [read this first](https://github.com/Data4Democracy/read-this-first)
2. Join [the slack channel #p-nyc-accessibility](https://datafordemocracy.slack.com/messages/p-nyc-accessibility/) and introduce yourself. If you need an invite to our slack system, email team@datafordemocracy.org.
3. Read our [brainstorming document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VYgCU4CEjtGIPotEDvQOid6w2nk8wdoq_Q1pY2BpOVk/edit#)
4. Check out our [issues page on Github](https://github.com/Data4Democracy/nyc-accessibility/issues) to see if there's something you can contribute to. If you don't see anything or you have questions, ask in the slack channel.
5. Fork the repo to your own github account. If you're not familiar with this process, you can find the steps [here](https://github.com/Data4Democracy/github-playground).