Too narrow spaces, inaccessibility and lack of information limit persons with disabilities in accessing basic services and goods. Precisely because he has similar problems, himself also using a wheelchair, Stipo Margić teamed up with colleagues from his Faculty. Together with Mija Matijević, he founded Liberato association, in order to use their programming skills in order to make moving around easier and simple. Since then, they have been working together, with the aim of increasing quality of life for persons with disabilities. Volunteers, currently about 20 of them, are helping in their work.
Liberato Association already completed several major projects; LiberatoMap - an interactive map for persons with disabilities, that provides easier and faster access to information on accessibility of the city’s facilities, with a focus on technical infrastructure and its implementation in new cities. The map is available online, and every day the team works on developing a mobile app and expanding to cover entire Croatia. The cities currently covered are Split, Trogir and Omis.
Liberato's new product is DisCloud, a complete product with multiple functions and areas of action. Its first and basic feature is the complete adaptation of the interactive screen to persons with disabilities. For example, ‘LiberatoMap’ software can be installed on DisCloud, providing users with information on accessibility of public and private facilities in a simple and fast way. Apart from this, it also supports all other software, according to the customers’ wishes (eg. shopping mall guide, finding the booth for selling tickets at the ferry port, etc.). To complete this story, we decided to secure power through solar energy. DisCloud can also charge the engine on wheelchairs and offer marketing services.
The product will be available to all citizens, with priority given to persons with disability. The first DisCloud is installed at University of Split’s Department of Professional Studies and was officially presented today. Prof B.Sc. ing. Slaven Šitić played a big part in DisCloud’s construction.
As they like to say in the Association: "This is not our beginning, nor our end, but a way towards creating a world without barriers".
Source: Liberato