Application Serving Disabled to Run in February

By: Ibrahim Eldeeb, Yassmine ElSayed

CAIRO, Jan. 6 (SEE) - A group of young innovative university students developed a mobile application that helps the disabled, and named it "helpee".

Speaking to 'SEE', Aya Abdel Qader, project's executive director, said that the whole idea came during a workshop organized by UNDP last October, and the main challenge was to find an idea or project that helps the disabled and those with special needs. Questions were there about how they can go to their work, and do they find troubles in performing any tasks.. We found that one of their main problems is moving without escorts, especially as there are no any special public routes for them.

Abdel Qader, Computer Science graduate from Elshrouk Academy, added that the solution they reached to was either to help the government to develop transport infrastructure so that they can serve those with special needs, or to provide and train escorts for them. They chose the second option and start to develop a certain mobile application for that cause.

On his part, Abdul Rahman al-Sharbaji, designer of the application, and Computer Science student at the Institute of Cairo, said that the users of the application are either those with disabilities or escorts whether they are paid or volunteers.

He said that the application allows the service to be requested by writing or via sound recording to make it easier for those who find difficulties in writing. The applicant must enter his or her name, phone number, location, type of assistance needed, time required and duration of the service. In return, the application will provide the required escort according to the compatibility of those criteria.

On other hand, Anwar Ali, director of operations in the project, said that the users of the application are going to provide assessment about each other, and in case the customer is not satisfied with the service, the application will deduct the fees from the escort who may eventually be dismissed from this work. On the contrary, if the escort offers negative evaluation for the disabled user, the application might terminate the deal with that person.

He added that service is counted on ‘one hour’ basis, and the application will charge 20% at every trip.

Meanwhile, Sarah Mahmoud, the project's administrative officer, said that helpee will start operating in early February and will provide his services free of charge for the first three months.

She added that the application developers are currently in talks with major Egyptian labor-intensive companies with disabilities to provide free service for workers with disabilities during the experimental work to assess the service.

Mahmoud concluded by confirming that the application will start operating in a limited scope; in Cairo and Giza and will then spread throughout Egypt and may reach the Arab world especially after winning ​​the first place in Egypt and got elevated to compete on regional level at UNDP.