The Disabled Can Now Find Restaurants In PJ That Meet Their Needs Via New App

A new mobile application has just been launched called “My Friendly Restaurant”, aimed with easing the process of browsing and locating disabled-friendly eateries in Petaling Jaya for special needs persons (OKU). 

The app itself was created by the Beautiful Gate Foundation, an organisation that has been caring for the disabled since the early 1990s. It allows those with disabilities to find places to eat without having to worry about the lack of disabled facilitie, according to a report from The Sun Daily.

“We will send correspondents throughout PJ for two months and evaluate the restaurants based on our index of disabled-friendliness,” said executive director Sia Siew Chin.

In collaboration with Our City Love Social Enterprise of Taiwan, these correspondents will visit the restaurants, take photographs and note a particular establishment’s layout, ease of access, lighting level and, of course, quality of food. The app, made for iOS and Android, will then display these restaurants overlayed on a map with the necessary descriptions, location, and contact details. 

“Based on the information, the user will be able to know if a restaurant can meet their needs beforehand. We also aim to include halal and vegetarian indicators, and make it multilingual, starting with Mandarin and English.”

In Petaling Jaya, new restaurants are requires to provide access for the disabled. However older restaurants are under no such obligation. MP Tony Pua, who was there to officiate the app said: "Hopefully with the app this will change."