Snowball
Making the World more accessible
What is Snowball?
Snowball Community, known simply as Snowball, is the world’s largest and most widely used disability accessibility app, transforming how people with disabilities find and share inclusive spaces.
This innovative platform allows users to rate and review businesses and services based on their disability-friendliness, covering everything from restaurants, tourist attractions, and supermarkets to coffee shops and more. Users can instantly search for accessible venues anywhere in the world, add new locations not yet listed, and leave detailed reviews contributing to a database that already includes tens of thousands of entries, from Changing Places facilities to accessible toilets.
A standout feature of Snowball is its integration with Google Maps, making it simple to navigate directly to chosen destinations. Both disabled travellers and locals enrich the app by adding and reviewing venues that welcome individuals with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, sensory needs, and neurodivergent conditions.
Powered by community input, Snowball grows just like its name suggests, through a snowball effect, making it an unmatched resource in the global accessibility market.
CEO & Founder
Snowball is the brainchild of founder Simon Sansome, a wheelchair user determined to transform accessibility worldwide. His vision is simple yet powerful: to help people with physical disabilities, mental health conditions, and learning disabilities enjoy successful journeys and enriching experiences without unnecessary barriers.
High-profile incidents such as BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner being left stranded on a plane at Heathrow, and a Guide Dogs charity executive asked to leave a supermarket because of his assistance dog, illustrate the very real challenges Snowball aims to solve. The app empowers users to socialise with ease, find nearby accessible facilities, and plan outings with freedom and confidence.
Simon’s journey began in 2014, when a sudden injury left the former council worker and rugby player from Leicester paralysed from the waist down. After a year of recovery, he took his wife to their favourite local restaurant only to discover there was no wheelchair access. This frustration sparked the creation of the Snowball Community Facebook page, which grew to over 100,000 followers, becoming the most-read disability page in the world. The overwhelmingly positive response inspired Simon to take the next step: building the Snowball app.
Today, Team GB Paralympic gold medallists Hannah Cockroft CBE and Aaron Phipps MBE proudly serve as Snowball Brand Ambassadors. The app is already making a measurable difference from providing businesses with valuable accessibility data to helping users find accessible parking, dining, accommodation, and facilities. For many, Snowball is more than an app, it’s a tool for inclusion, dignity, and independence.
Start your journey towards accessibility today
Join thousands who are making the world more inclusive.
