Once you become attuned to how inaccessible the world is around you, you notice a lot of little things.
Maybe there are no curb cuts in your area, leaving people who use wheelchairs or parents with strollers to take a risky leap into the street, or go out of their way to find a safe way to move around.
Perhaps you notice how the elevator in your office building is always out of order, and those who can’t use the stairs are left to fend for themselves.
The print on a restaurant’s menu is too small, or the bathroom door to the accessible stall doesn’t lock all the way, or American Sign Language interpretation is nowhere to be found.
The developers behind the app Roll Mobility were all too familiar with these everyday concerns.
So, they decided to put the power back in the hands of disabled folks.
“Designed specifically for wheelchair users and individuals with accessibility issues, Roll Mobility takes the guesswork out of venturing into public spaces,” a press release for the app shares.
The app — which is free to download for both Apple and Android devices — launched in February of 2023 and is gaining momentum among people with disabilities.
With a community-based approach, users are able to search for a location, and read crowd-sourced reviews about that place’s accessibility information.
This includes essential information about features like ramps, elevators, accessible restrooms, parking spaces, and more.
Essentially: It’s Yelp for disabled community members.
“By leveraging the collective knowledge of its user community, this app creates a reliable and comprehensive database of accessible establishments in the local area, ensuring that individuals can make informed decisions about where to go and what to expect,” Roll Mobility’s website explains.
The app has a rating scale that includes data for overall accessibility and bathroom accessibility about a given space. Using a familiar red-yellow-green criteria, users can easily anticipate what kind of accommodations they might have access to — or whether they will be unable to navigate a space.
These scores are generated when users answer a series of questions about a location on the app, noting the absence or presence of key accessibility features. Users can also document additional information, comments, photos, and feedback for every entry.
Although all public places are supposed to meet a certain standard of accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act, many establishments either do not prioritize accessibility or are exempt from the ADA due to “grandfathering clauses.”
“This leaves individuals who utilize wheelchairs uncertain about whether or not they can participate in certain activities, making planning outings a daunting and frustrating task,” Roll Mobility’s press release states.
With an estimated 12% of U.S. adults facing mobility disabilities, this leaves a staggering number of the population struggling to navigate daily life.
After a little over a year on the market, Roll Mobility serves more than 1,000 users worldwide and highlights over 35 Adaptive Programs across the U.S.
While the app has become a great resource among disabled individuals, it also aims to raise awareness among able-bodied allies about “what makes a space fully inclusive.”
App creators even encourage able-bodied people to download the app to help document locations to help bridge the information gap for the users who need it most.
“Roll Mobility is for everyone. All people benefit from accessible design, and our app is designed to teach anyone how to be a reliable accessibility rater,” one team member said in a recent TikTok video. “One of our favorite things about the app is its ability to raise social awareness around disability and accessible design altogether.”
It really is for everyone — the app is available worldwide to serve as a resource for folks no matter where they are.
But it takes time and community to gather the information necessary to make the app the best it can be.
The caption under the same TikTok video sums it up: “While we can’t overcome social barriers overnight, we can at least catalog and share the places where we know we are welcome.”
Header images courtesy of Roll Mobility/TikTok
