0:00  
The bearings broken and in two weeks I'm gonna get it fixed. Kick it. 

0:04  
The wheel of her chair squeaks as she moves around trying to fix it. Her sister offers to try to kick underneath the wheel to try to silence the sound.

0:16  
It's the back one. I don't know if it's the back or the front. [kicking noise]

0:27  
Maayan Ziv is an entrepreneur, photographer and activist. She was born with muscular dystrophy and ever since she can remember has been advocating for accessibility around the world. She's the founder of Access Now. This is an app and website that allows people to look for places and figure out if they are accessible or not.

0:44  
Having a disability like the reality is that the world isn't really designed for people like me and mine. It's very much focused on people who can walk around and people who can reach certain heights and have a certain strength level. And so there's many realities where you know whether I want to go to a store, or I want to go to an event, or I want to go, like use public transportation even. There's just so many barriers everywhere, from steps to broken elevators, to no elevators, to just a lack of awareness or understanding that accessibility is important to a significant portion of the population. So those are the kinds of obstacles that I've always experienced. And I wanted to get to the point where I could create a platform that would let people at least navigate their surroundings, so that they could avoid those obstacles and not have to be constantly fighting through them all the time.

1:48  
However, finding accessible places around the city wasn't always as easy as looking it up on an app. Maayan has been struggling with this problem her whole life, but she also wanted to solve this challenge for the many other people who face this issue every day.

2:02  
The problem is that there's so many people who, even if they have the best intentions, they don't really understand.

2:07  
 Right.

2:08  
The magnitude or this concrete needs of someone who requires accessibility. So for example, I booked a reservation for a hotel in New York and called ahead and asked them if they were wheelchair accessible. And they said yes and they and then you know, I always go further and ask, Well, do you have a ramp? Yes, we have a ramp. Do you have any steps? Yes, we have two steps, actually, but we have a ramp so there's no problem. Okay, great. So I show up and they have like five steps actually not to. And the ramp is with a delivery service ramp that they unfold and go over this very narrow door to let people with carts carry their luggage isn't in stock. And so it, it wasn't even wide enough for my wheelchair. And I've flown to New York, and I'm showing up there in front of a hotel that I can't even get inside. And those kinds of things obviously, can can really throw someone when when they were just trying to live their life.

3:14  
Another big challenge Maayan faced was traveling her younger sister Talia explains how much work and research has to be done before they're able to go on vacation. The family usually has to call ahead to get accommodations at the airport and for the airplane. She also talks about what kind of customer service they are met with on a daily basis.

3:32  
Flying is very challenging, because like a plane wasn't really built for a wheelchair. They don't build planes to accommodate a wheelchair. And, um, you have to be aware of what type of plane you're going on. And if it's a big plane, versus a smaller body plane, because that depends on how they're gonna treat your chair, because they have to put the chair in a crate, or they have to strap it down in the in the, the storage of the plane in the belly. And it's just so insane and just getting off the plane on the other side. You want to make sure that you have your, your chair, right, because those are your legs basically. That's how you get around. So if your chairs broken, like what am I supposed to do? It's just really crazy because a lot of times when I'd be traveling alongside my Maayan, the person in charge or like the the flight attendant or the what are those people call it the front desk when you check in?

4:32  
Guest services? 

4:33  
Yeah, they like they won't even talk to me directly.  Will talk to her helper, you know, like, like, she will say like, does she need help to do this? Or does the lady need this kind of service? Wow. You know, like, I'll be there and be like, well, you can talk to her yourself. You know, like, she has a voice, right. 

4:54  
For founding Access Now she earned her bachelor's in Radio and Television Arts, and a master's in digital media at Ryerson University. Since then Maayan advisors is the Clerk of the Privy Council of Canada and is a board member of the Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Center for Independent Living and recently won Toronto's communicator of the year and Canada's top 100 most powerful women. Her goal for the future is to map accessible places around the world and educate others on how to invest in the city to make it accessible for everyone.

5:23  
It was more so like an experience that started from when I was very young, to advocating for equal services in school and equal customer service out in the world. To now when I see that there's something wrong, I pick my battles, but, you know, I know that things can be different. So it's just I believe in how it should be and so I'll do what I can to make it that way

5:56  
For RSJ radio. I'm Victoria Rubido.