How accessible is your suburb?

Nearly1,500 accessible venues are now listed on the free app, which helps people with disabilities and mobility limitations, their families and carers plan a day out.

Of those, 92 venues are in central Melbourne, significantly more than second placed St Kilda where 39 accessible venues are listed.

Most of the top 10 suburbs for accessible venues are in inner Melbourne, including Hawthorn, Fitzroy, Port Melbourne and Preston.

However, outer areas are also highly ranked on the table, with Werribee and Frankston coming in at third and fourth place respectively.

Regional Victoria doesn’t miss out, with venues from areas including Ballarat, Geelong, Horsham, Mildura and Shepparton included on the app.

Venues are listed if they have features that make accessibility easy for people with disabilities or mobility limitations.  These include wheelchair accessible toilets, ramps, hearing loops, accessible parking, handrails or flat walking tracks.

Events with accessibility features are also listed, including concerts, sporting events, exhibitions and festivals. More than 500 accessible events have so far been listed.

As the app is community powered, users can suggest venues for inclusion. The more venues, the better informed people with disabilities and mobility limitations, their carers and families will be when planning a day out – and the better a suburb will rank on the list of Victoria’s most accessible suburbs.

The top types of venues listed are restaurants and cafes, while parks and playgrounds, community and leisure centres, libraries and tourist attractions are also well represented.

The app also enables users to rate and review venues to assist other people planning a day out, and users can search by location or venue type. 

The most reviewed venues are recreation locations such as Albert Park and Ringwood Lake Park, but shopping centres, theatres and even wineries like Ten Minutes by Tractor have garnered reviews.

The Out & About app and associated all-abilities Family Fun Day recently won the Excellence in Improving Participation Award at the 2014 Victorian Disability Sector Awards. 

The app was also awarded a NAB Community Grant last month to help progress the app’s geographic reach into regional areas of Victoria, and enable the development of the Android version so more people can access the valuable information.

Rebecca Ryan, Villa Maria executive manager of marketing, says the more venues and events listed on the app, the more spontaneous people with disabilities and mobility limitations, their families and carers can be.

Ms Ryan urged all Victorians to get behind the app and make life easier for everyone.

“We take it for granted we can make a snap decision to visit a café or go for a walk in a park.  For people with disabilities or mobility limitations it’s not so easy.

“The Out & About app enables everyone access to the same information, in the palm of their hand.”