App designed as the Trustpilot for disabled travellers brings influential entrepreneur on board
Access Rating – a new app designed to act as a cross between Trustpilot and TripAdvisor for disabled people – has received a boost of support as experienced and successful disabled entrepreneur Martyn Sibley joins the start-up’s board.
Well-known as a leading entrepreneur in the industry, Martyn Sibley is the creator of Disability Horizons magazine, Accomable, the purplegoatagency.com and identified as one of the most 100 influential disabled by the Shaw Trust’s annual Power 100 publication.
According to Access Rating, Sibley’s appointment could be a gamechanger for the Access Rating app which was launched by a trio of disabled Leicestershire tech-entrepreneurs earlier in the year.
In particular, the company hopes the appointment of Sibley to the board of the Community Interest Company (CIC) will provide it with an instant boost of credibility.
It comes after Sibley’s Accomable platform – an accessible travel start-up that helped disabled people find and book adapted holiday accommodation worldwide – was acquired by Airbnb at the end of 2017.
With venues and city centre management teams striving to rebuild and restore our major cities after months of lockdown, along with the Changing Places facilities recently being made mandatory in public buildings, Access Rating says the appointment is timely in helping create a climate of accessibility for all.
Designed to empower disabled people to review businesses in terms of their accessibility for those with mobility needs, the Access Rating app aims to create a real-time knowledge bank of accessibility for disabled users by disabled users.
According to Access Rating, it hopes the user-led app will encourage companies to prioritise accessibility and tackle problems that business owners may not be aware of, such as the need for drop kerbs, accessible lifts or suitable toileting facilities.
Sibley will now act as in an ambassadorial role for the company as Access Rating pushes to roll-out and popularise the app.
“I think Access Rating solves a really important need,” commented Sibley.
“As a wheelchair user myself, I think it’s obvious the barriers I’ve faced around not knowing if I can get in to a venue, right through to not knowing if there is an accessible toilet I can use, amongst other things. All these kinds of factors have been big issues over the years, but I think Access Rating is going to be able to help that”.
Free to download, the app can be found on both Apple and Android Stores by searching Access Rating (Disabled Access Review App).
“I’m confident that the disabled community will join me in showing their support to the Access Rating app,” added Sibley.
“They can do this by downloading the free app and sharing their venue experiences for the benefit of others in the community. Together, we can not only make a difference but get our voices heard.”
Find out more about the app below:
