Tonight I went to Dogpatch and before I went I had to look up where it was. Had never heard of it. Turned out to be a super cool place in a super cool location where super cool entrepreneurs breed their latest start-ups. An open plan heaven of bright, engaged, self-convinced and self-driven people determined to shape the future of our country and the world, no less. Check it out on http://dogpatchlabs.com.

I went there to attend the first event of #HackAccessDublin or http://www.hackaccessdublin.ie – an initiative, or a project?, aimed to make Dublin more accessible to persons with mobility problems – all initiated and conceived by Janice who not too long ago lost her disabled brother.

It was all about transport: trains and DART, buses, parking. People asked really interesting questions like: can you imagine what it would be like if the names of all train and DART stations were blocked off so you couldn’t read them and you did not know where you were? If you can, then you can imagine how it feels for a blind person if the public announcement system in the train or DART doesn’t work. Or: how could sensors be used to determine which parking slots for wheelchair drivers (or driven) are available and whether the cars that park in them are the ones that are allowed to park there? And: why does Google Maps not have a wheelchair as a mode of travel, on the same wavelength as car, bicycle, or walking?

I want to tell Pádraig about this tomorrow and I’m sure he’ll be very interested. How great would it be if he could share some of his own, original ideas! One day, not too far away, he’ll be able to do just that.