Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2019 - 34

LIFE STORY

Opening doors
How Maayan Ziv created
a global accessibility app
"Our users
message us
with stories
of challenges
and more joyful
moments."

I'd just started my second degree at

Ryerson-a master of digital media-
and my classmates and I were heading out
to celebrate the beginning of the year. It was
a place nearby, but off-campus; there was no
way to find out in advance if it was accessible. When we got there, there were four steps
to the entrance, so I had to find my way in
through a narrow alleyway. It was stinky
and dark, and we had to use flashlights and
move garbage bins just so I could get in.
› It's a problem I've experienced my entire
life. I have muscular dystrophy and I've
34

Ryerson University Magazine / Summer 2019

used a wheelchair since I was a little kid.
Finding accessible places usually involved
a lot of time-consuming research, like
calling every place I was ever going and
trying to get someone on the other end of
the phone who might have some kind of
an idea whether their business is accessible-which most of the time, they don't. It's
frustrating. For people with disabilities, it's
so much of an effort to just go about your
day-let alone trying to find a good job, go
to school or even have a decent social life.
› That night, I realized that I had a unique

opportunity to address a significant problem in an innovative way, because my
program focused on tech and entrepreneurship. I decided to build a website that
would use crowdsourcing to pinpoint the
accessibility status of locations. But I had
no background in tech and I'd never built
a business before; my undergrad was in
Radio and Television Arts. How do you take
an idea and turn it into a real thing?
› It was a matter of reaching out to people
who had the answers. I tried to access as
much of Ryerson as I could while I was there.
We had a design and UX class, so I would
spend time doing prototypes and wireframes, and collaborating with my classmates. I connected with entrepreneurs at
Ryerson, and pitched and applied for grants.
Initially, it was about being scrappy and
leveraging opportunities that were given to
students to develop new technology.
› In 2015, a week before I graduated,
AccessNow launched. More than three
years later, we're still going strong. When
we started, there were other websites and
apps that were doing similar things in specific cities or countries, but from day one,
we wanted to be global. Today, we're in 34
countries around the world, from Australia,
to Tel Aviv, to Halifax.
› Being in the tech space isn't "wins"
every day. It's really tough work and there
have been moments when we weren't sure
if we were going to be able to continue.
But our community has grown and is motivated to create change. Our users message
us with stories of challenges and more joyful moments.
› Someone once reached out and said,
"I'm planning on going to lunch with someone who needs an accessible location, and
I used the app to find someplace that's
suitable." That's such a great story. People
assume AccessNow is just for people with
disabilities, but it's for everyone-parents
with strollers, event planners and educational institutions are all using the app. The
same goes for contributing. It's an open invitation-you don't need to have a disability.
› At its core, AccessNow is really about
creating change when it comes to making
a truly more accessible world for people
of all abilities. It's an integral component
to how we create an inclusive culture and
environment for all people. Regardless of
who you are, you're going to need access
at some point in your life-so why not help
today, instead of later? -As told to Jessica
Wynne Lockhart

PHOTOGRAPH BY DENISE MILITZER

ALUMNI DIARY

Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2019

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