The company Access Information, Inc. (AII) was born on July 26, 2000 with the simple goal of giving the disabled in the Washington, DC area more information to make their journeys around the metropolitan area easier and more "accessible." AII utilized the Internet to provide this much needed information to persons with any type of disability. The website, located at www.disabilityguide.org, became hugely popular and it became obvious that there was an urgent and unfulfilled need for disability information specific to the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Plans were made to incorporate the company and achieve 501(c)(3) non-profit status from the IRS. The company founders Russ Holt, a quadriplegic, and his lifelong friend Greg Snider then began their quest to run the most comprehensive, easy-to-use, and up-to-date disability website available for people in the area that will serve as a model for use in other cities throughout the United States.

Using the disabilityguide.org website, visitors can find the most detailed accessibility information for museums, restaurants, shopping and more. Users can search the AII online databases through a variety of variables to find specific restaurants, nightclubs and bars that they may want to patronize and find current, accurate information about the establishments accessibility and know that it was reviewed, in-person, by a disabled person. Users may also find much more information on the website including where to rent wheelchairs or have them repaired, information on personal assistants, or a list of companies who specialize in renovating houses for the disabled. The amount of information housed within the website grows constantly as suggestions from the user community are evaluated and added, when approved.

Early statistics were encouraging, but not spectacular. Over the first five months, an average of 140 website views per day were recorded by web tracking software. However, news of the website was traveling fast and in February 2001 The Washington Post newspaper ran a half page article titled, "Guide Makes Going Out an Enabling Experience." [Monday, January 29, 2001]. Suddenly, the websites popularity skyrocketed - the day the article ran over 4,000 people from 20 different countries visited the site. After the initial rush of visitors from the article, the viewership steadily increased to an average of 750 views per day from 50 different countries from Russia to Luxembourg. The websites search engine ranking climbed, and as of today still retains top positions on the largest search engines.

E-mail praise and requests poured in, and the sites content grew. People with disabilities had many great ideas for website additions; places to add, and issues to address. One topic that was frequently brought up was the availability of a hard copy version of the DisabilityGuide website. People pointed out that it would be nice to have a guidebook that could be stored in a purse or briefcase. Research showed that there was no such guidebook available in the area, so plans were made to launch the 2001 Access Entertainment Guide. Using the most pertinent topics and most accessible places from the website, the initial printing of 1,000 guidebooks was released in July 2001 to area disability related organizations. Recognizing the importance of this guidebook, Mr. Holt and Mr. Snider financed the printing personally.

Soon after the release of the 2001 guidebook, orders for more guidebooks came so frequently that plans for the 2002 edition were set in motion. The second edition would also include a much larger circulation. Companies that saw the success of the first guidebook and realized its potential began asking for advertising space in the 2002 edition. In addition, the Washington DC Convention and Tourism Corporation (WCTC) signed on board to assist with distribution and their easily recognizable logo was placed on the cover of the 2002 edition. The number of copies for the 2002 edition was doubled and advertisers appeared throughout the book. Word of mouth continued to spread and soon the DC Chamber of Commerce, the DC Visitors Center, and the Washington Concierge Association requested guidebooks for distribution. Even the Smithsonian Museum requested a full box of 500 guidebooks.

The direction of AII began to take a life of its own. It became obvious through feedback that disabled persons and their families were planning their entire visits to the Washington, DC area based on the information within the website and the guidebook. This included not only people from within the United States, but also those from other areas of the world as well. In addition, we were beginning to receive requests from restaurants who had been reviewed and recorded within our databases as "not accessible" to have out staff come out and do a second review due to changes they had made. We, of course, obliged and in most instances the small changes that were made changed their accessibility status and were incorporated into our database for future viewers.

In early 2002, AII was awarded 501(c)(3) non-profit status from the IRS and a Board of Director’s was selected. The Board of Director’s consisted of the Executive Director of The National Spinal Cord Injury Association, the Executive Director of the Endependence Center of Northern Virginia, and the Executive Director of ADA Watch. These three individuals are all very well known in the disability community and have significant experience running non-profit organizations which was seen as a huge benefit to AII.

One of the big successes that was recorded, and one that showed that AII was beginning to not only make a difference, but also was becoming a legitimate and respected organization was when the AII President , Mr. Holt was going to the National Gallery of Art to view the Salvador Dali famed painting "Sacrament of the Last Supper." When he arrived at the gallery he found that the painting was located in an area where only persons who could use stairs or an escalator could access it. When he inquired about how he could view the painting he was told, "Sorry, you can’t." As the President of Access Information, Inc. he wrote a letter to the gallery to bring the situation up to the curator. As a result, the painting was moved to a location where it could be accessed by all patrons. This instance was written up in The Washington Post newspaper in an article titled, "The Accessible Surrealist." [Thursday, November 22, 2001]. Mr. Holt received a written letter from the National Gallery of Art curator apologizing and discussing the changes that were being incorporated for the benefit of disabled persons. According to the article, gallery officials said that this was the first time the gallery has moved a work of art because of concerns over access by the disabled.

In the early spring of 2003 a disabled man was given a citation for venting his frustrations about elevators being out at several metro stations and then not receiving what he felt should be professional courtesy to Metro patrons. While this story was escalating in the news world, the Fox5DC TV station called AII to have Mr. Holt come on air to discuss the situation. He was introduced as a disability expert from AII.

In late 2003, through a partnership agreement with another disability non-profit agency, AII acquired office space in the northwest area of Washington, DC. We are also in the process of hiring a full-time reviewer to assist with reviewing and re-reviewing the hundreds of thousands of restaurants, bars, museums, and other attractions within the metropolitan area. The person hired for this position, as well as most of the people hired by AII, will be a disabled person. This will lend true credibility to the reviews.

AII is also listed under the "Tips for Travelers with Special Needs" as the best disability resource for the Washington, DC area in the 2003 edition of Frommer’s, one of the largest and most respected travel guidebooks.

If you would like more information regarding AII, please e-mail [ russ (at) disabilityguide.org ].