Mapping Access One Review at a Time

As part of TheSharedWorld’s mission to spotlight organizations making a difference for humanity and the planet, we are proud to kick off this series by highlighting Brandon Winfield, co-founder of iAccess Life. Brandon’s resilience and vision inspire us to champion tools and partnerships that widen access, strengthen inclusion, and help everyone get out, explore, and belong.

Finding a great restaurant or hotel is easy. Knowing whether you can get in the door, move comfortably inside, and use the restroom is the real challenge for millions of people. Does the grocery store or restaurant provide wheelchair access via a ramp? Does the bar provide an accessible restroom? Is the parking lot easy to navigate?

iAccess Life is tackling that everyday barrier with an app built for practical accessibility. Users rate and review restaurants, shops. hotels, and other venues on essentials like parking, entrances, interior space, and restrooms, so trips can be planned with confidence.

The spark for the company is deeply personal. Brandon Winfield was 14 when a motocross crash in 2008 left him with a T7–T8 spinal cord injury and paralysis from the waist down. He kept racing, then turned lived experience into product design, building a tool that helps people know before they go. “If I’m struggling with accessibility and I’ve been hurt before and know how to navigate, there have to be so many others discouraged from going out altogether,” Winfield said, underscoring why firsthand feedback and better planning matter. “Our mission is to provide equity and independence to those facing the same accessibility challenges I’ve faced.”

Beyond crowdsourced reviews, the team is rolling out tools that give cities and venues real feedback. In Atlanta, Zoo Atlanta partnered with iAccess Life to launch Voice by iAccess Life, enabling guests to scan QR codes and share real-time accessibility experiences across the grounds. “iAccess Life was created to allow users with mobility impairments to access venues independently and confidently,” Winfield said. “A lot of times the chain of operations from suggestion to solution is broken and not efficient.”

In Raleigh, North Carolina, residents now use Voice to report street-level accessibility around ADA parking, giving planners actionable data and improving daily life.

What sets their approach apart is the focus on decisions people make in the moment. Instead of vague labels, reviews and quick surveys highlight the features that matter.

Photographed here with co-Founder, Sayeed Mehrjerdian. In early 2015, Sayeed discovered Brandon Winfield’s work on a mobile app aimed at helping people with mobility impairments rate the accessibility of various establishments. With a background in product management, Sayeed reached out, offering his expertise in technology and development to support the project.