If you are able-bodied, you don’t notice how tough it is to find accessible campgrounds and other fun destinations until you travel with a person who has mobility impairments. A new smartphone app called iAccess Life wants to change that.
How to Find Accessible Campgrounds (and help others do the same!)
A new app wants to help people with mobility impairments find accessible campgrounds. Image: iAccessLife.com
In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act is supposedly the law. But when you travel, it doesn’t take long to see that America’s beautiful outdoor destinations often lack the accessibility features for a person with mobility impairments.
The National Park System is one of the few outdoor destinations where you can be confident that handicapped ramps and facilities exist. In some places you can even rent off-road track chairs for wheelchair users. But aside from these few destinations, finding accessible campgrounds, trails and other outdoor activities is a crapshoot. That’s where iAccess Life comes in.
iAccess Life is a user-driven lifestyle app.
The lifestyle mobile application was founded by Brandon Winfield, a wheelchair user since the age of fourteen, when a motocross accident left him paralyzed from the mid-chest down. In an article for Abilities.com, he explains why he wants to become the Yelp.com for people with mobility impairments.
“What if you could know before you go? Would you take more chances, would you try something new? I personally feel that every day as a wheelchair user can be a test of your comfort zone. For some (even myself at times), I feel that this can be a hindrance on how we go through life. Sometimes it’s easier to have a plan and to know what you are getting yourself into before you show up somewhere.
Winfiled (left) with co-founder Sayeed Mehrjerdian.
Users Make iAccess Life a Reality
iAccess Life is a free smartphone app now available in the iOS and Google Play stores. To date, users have submitted over 1300 accessibility ratings, in 30-plus states and 10 different countries.
Users provide feedback so you can research campgrounds and other destinations.
As more iAccess Life users provide ratings and reviews for fun and interesting places, Winfield’s team will roll-out new features like online travel booking, activities calendars and a social feed to get insider’s takes on a destination’s accessibility features (or lack thereof).
iAccess Life Features
iAccess Life wants brand ambassadors to build the database.
Review location details, like hours, distance and accessibility ratings. Users rate a destination’s Entrance, Bathroom, Parking, and Interior seating.
Read what others think about a location. Users share experiences with written reviews. If you go, add your own perspective to give others a complete picture.
Get tailored search results. Start by building your personal profile and location favorites. This profile information includes a user’s specific disability so that you can receive tailored recommendations.
Brand Ambassadors Wanted
The app has a long way to go when it comes to building the database of user reviews. This is especially true when it comes to campground reviews. In order to change that, iAccess Life is seeking brand ambassadors to fill in the gaps. Cash and prizes will be awarded to brand ambassadors who participate.
For more information and to sign up as an abassador, visit the iAccessLife website.
Rene Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, became full-time RVers in 2007 and have been touring the country ever since. In her blog, Rene chronicles the ins and outs of the full-timing life and brings readers along to meet the fascinating people and amazing places they visit on the road. Her road trip adventures are chronicled in her blog at LiveWorkDream.com.
Fantastic idea!!!