Josh develops accessibility app to connect people with disability

After experiencing his own accessibility difficulties while on holidays with his family, Josh saw the need for an app that assesses venues on their access and inclusion – that’s when the MyAccess app was born.

The Toowoomba local, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, used his experiences of inaccessibility to start Inclusion Access four years ago, and more recently began visiting local venues and giving advice to businesses on their own accessibility.

“I reviewed about 110 venues in Toowoomba from hotels, motels, cafes, restaurants, parks, museums, movie theatres… rating them on their accessibility; or not actually rating them, I'm more awarding them,” Josh said.

“I rate them on how accessible, I take pictures of the bathroom, the car parking, the entryway, I’ll discuss ground surfaces, the table heights, all the things that are relevant for mobility. In the app you can also click on sensory and neurodiversity options.”

“We award people if they've got high physical support classification, like a hoist, they'll get a gold inclusion access plaque that says they're fully accessible.

“If they've got my level of needs, which is not hoisting but accessible toilets, accessible car parking, table heights, etcetera, they'll get a silver plaque; and if they have ambulatory needs like pull up bars, they'll get a bronze because… even bronze level is really somebody that's trying.”

Once a venue is awarded, Josh spends time with them offering advice on improving their accessibility even further.

Josh said that he found a big issue people with disability face is that they don’t like to leave the safety of their homes as they can’t trust the information they may get about accessibility in their community.

“So I'm trying to do not only an app that can be used by everybody with every level of cognition, but a service that's going to encompass everyone and from there you can build an itinerary,” he said.

“There are a few websites that do this and… I've looked at all these. But, the thing is they do do it, but they’re not accessed by an access consultant, they're from users and that’s not trustworthy to me.

“I need to get out and look at the standards and overlay the standards and do it that way. That's how I'm doing it differently.

“I feel this is my duty, that I have to do this. I have to teach people how to look at people with disability as people.

“I'm not a wheelchair. My wheelchair is my chariot of liberation. I don't want to be looked at as a wheelchair.”

Josh uses his National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funded support worker to help with accessing the venues.

“My dexterity with MS is terrible, so I do a lot of assessments and reports and I'll dictate to him (my support worker) and he'll type,” he said.

“If I need help with measuring a door, then he can measure the door; but, most of the time, he just pushes me, drives me.

“And that's the kind of stuff I can't do without a support worker. So, I think the importance of it is it's normalising life and normalising a person's capacity.

“I don't want disability to stop me; I'll never let it stop me. And without NDIS, it would have stopped me. Let's just say that.”

Josh said his new app will not only help the community, but will also act as a tool to better educate others about accessibility.

“It's a vehicle to a better understanding, because that's what's required. It's gone beyond ‘we'll do that because the standard says so’, to, ‘we'll do it because people need it’,” Josh said.

“That's the story I often say to people that this is what's relevant; accessibility is so much more than ramps and rails. It's also attitudes.”

He said more funding is needed to allow the app to be rolled out throughout south-east Queensland and eventually across the country.

While Josh continues to promote and develop the app, he also uses his NDIS supports to attend medical appointments and meetings.

“(My support worker) is also my driver; I've got meetings with Brisbane City Council all the time and I'm a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), and Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN), who always have meetings I have to get to,” he said.

“He takes me to my neurologist appointment, getting down to have my infusions every few months in Brisbane; I couldn't get there without him.”

Josh also accesses a cleaner for his home, has a new wheelchair and power assist device and a pool hoist for hydrotherapy, thanks to the NDIS.

Josh received assistance to apply for and implement his NDIS funding from Carers Queensland’s NDIS Local Area Coordination Partner in the Community Program for the Toowoomba region.

Carers Queensland can support you to find out more about the NDIS, to apply for funding and to help you get started with the NDIS.

If you have a disability but are not eligible for the NDIS, Carers Queensland can help you identify and link to options for support in your community.

You can also contact Carers Queensland on 1300 999 636, or cq.enquiries@ndis.gov.au