Most restaurants present challenges for the elderly and the physically challenged – too many stairs to climb, dim lighting, boisterous crowd, etc. What if they could be forewarned about these challenges? Comfort Zone, an app developed by Jayati Sood and Arav Agarwal, Class 12 science students of The Mother’s International School, started out as an attempt to answer this question.
During Digital Literacy workshops conducted by Agewell Foundation, the students realised that senior citizens were in fact very receptive to technology, and eager to connect with the world. They observed the common problems they faced with their smart phones. Then they created questionnaire using Google Forms, covering a large number of features that make a restaurant senior friendly. This was sent out as a link to the form via their website www.comfortzone.site, to family and friends, to be filled out while visiting a restaurant. After surveying 138 restaurants, the data was loaded on app.
The result is a technological solution that’s easy to use, and helps senior citizens and the physically challenged dine independently. Currently the students are working on covering more ground. The immediate goal is to cover all restaurants in Delhi-NCR, and future plans include expanding to other States and recreation hubs.
The app can be downloaded from Play Store (http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.comfortzone). It sorts restaurants in increasing order of distance from current location. The appropriate filters are available in navigation drawer like, for instance, availability of car drop off at entrance, wheelchair accessible, disabled toilets etc.
Indeed, Comfort Zone is one app that offers comfort to those who need it the most.