WheelEasy Foundation
WheelEasy is on a mission to give wheelies and others with mobility issues a voice.
For mobility-impaired people, easily available information about access to restaurants, bars and public spaces simply doesn’t exist. So, they’re often prevented from doing things that most people take for granted. Through their newly launched Access Information Website, they crowdsource reliable photo-based information for everything access related, to enable the mobility impaired and their companions to experience their cities and enjoy leisure time together. It’s like “TripAdvisor for everything access related”.
2018 Pitch
Funds raised: $55,000
Navigating Australia in a wheelchair can be a difficult and demoralising experience. Be it a lack of reliable information or appropriate facilities, people in a wheelchair often give up and stay inside. This grim reality inspired Max to do something about it and created an online platform - WheelEasy - a trip advisor of sorts for people living in a wheelchair. At TFN Live Sydney, Max was pitching for funding to put on ‘Wheelie Great Days Out’ across Australia to promote inclusion and the WheelEasy platform.
The Impact…
When people living in wheelchairs experience a lack of access to public spaces, restaurants and event spaces it’s not just felt by them. The partners, families and friends also experience that lack of access, which leads to feelings of exclusion, isolation and many simply give up. Without access to meaningful information, like ramp accessibility at a park or even the width of the disabled toilet door, people are not empowered to plan outings in their local communities - let alone holidays.
Experiencing this first-hand, Max and Justine launched Wheeleasy, a website that provides useful information to people living in wheelchairs and other mobility issues. Photos and comments are now curated on the ‘trip advisor’ for accessibility and the push for more information is at the heart of the Wheelie Great Day Outs. They have started running these with partners and have already added 110 places to the site, with more excursions scheduled for later this year and next.
“A gentleman who walks extremely slowly with a walking frame was attending a wedding function in Circular Quay. The wedding photos were due to be taken on the forecourt outside the Sydney Opera House. He and his wife found themselves having lunch beforehand on the below ground level in a bar next to the Opera House. With 10 minutes to go before the photos were to be taken, they realised that at his pace, it would have taken at least half an hour to walk up the very long ramp to join the group. By the time they would have got there, the photos would have been taken and they would have missed out on a really important family occasion. With the website’s help they were able to identify a lift not too far away within the Opera House itself that enabled them to get there in 10 minutes and therefore join the group for the photos.” - Max Burt, Founder
Read their Impact Report.
Learn more about the WheelEasy Foundation.
Supporting Sustainable Development Goals:
