All Access Life, is a Canadian non-profit, made up of Brad Heaven and Dan O’Connor. They met when Brad was in high school, and Dan took on the role of Brad's full-time aide.
Brad was born with nonverbal Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy. Over the years they've built a very unique and long-lasting friendship and today, they're best friends and business partners!
Here is exactly how to grow, and non-profit in 2024, and beyond!
Written by Claudia Lee | Founder of Nexus Gecko
What is All Access Life?
AAL, centers around highlighting and educating on adaptive products, and they promote diversity and accessibility, for people with a wide range of disabilities.
And what they’re achieving is incredible. Let me show you how they’re doing it. But first, what is CP and how does it affect Brad?
What Is Cerebral Palsy?
Nonverbal Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy is a specific form of cerebral palsy, a condition that affects movement and muscle coordination. Let's break it down into simpler terms, and what this means for Brad:
Cerebral Palsy (CP): This is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture and is caused by abnormal brain development or damage to the developing brain, often before birth.
Dyskinetic: In this type of CP, the term "dyskinetic" refers to difficulties with controlling movements. These movements can be slow and writhing or rapid and jerky. For Brad it affects everything, his arms, legs, and even the face and tongue, making tasks like grasping objects, walking, or speaking difficult. Hence why Dan is his full time aide.
Nonverbal: Due to the Dyskinetic area of Brad's CP, he is non verbal and talks via this…
It’s called TD Pilot, and it’s created by Tobii Dynavox. It tracks Brad's eye movements, and allows him to use an iPad, with just his eyes.
Here’s a video Brad and Dan made for their YouTube channel, showing you exactly how it works.
So, Just How Are They Growing Their Non-Profit?
Both of them, knew they wanted to build their career, within the disability space. Like two peas in a pod, the best friends knew they wanted to build something together.
But just this idea alone wasn’t enough…
They knew they needed to be different. Not just any kind of non-profit.
And boy are they raising the game. From marathons and fundraisers to partnering with Logitech and Tobii Dynavox, they’re on their way to reaching the moon at this point.
So just how are they doing it?
Genius Fundraiser
How do you build an out-of-this-world fundraiser?
Like most non profits, AAL gets alot of its help through fundraising and donations. But here’s where the boys are genius.
Instead of just having one donation page, they create sub pages for, others that run along with them.
It allows for people wanting to do good things and work along side them, to be able to assist in the fundraising process.
Genius.
Perfect Partnerships
Both Brad and Dan knew they didn’t want to rely on fundraisers alone. And partnering with companies, especially those within the disability space, was key for them.
The big shift was the partnering with Tobii Dynavox.
Brad has used Tobii Dynavox communication devices since the age of 4. These devices give Brad, and many others, a voice and allow them to interact with the world!
Each month Brad and Dan release a video to their 270,000 followers showcasing how empowering the TD Pilot eye-tracking device is for Brad. They’ve showcased how he can use his eyes to play games, control smart home technology, mop and vacuum their office floor, unlock and lock their office door and so much more!
Consistent Content
Now equipped with new products to highlight, they needed to build an audience.
And the way to do this was through Social Media.
Now as of Feb 2024, they are at over 270,000 followers across all platforms! And this I can only imagine, will not slow down anytime soon.
Not only do they have a long-term monetization strategy, as their YouTube videos can earn based on view count, but also an audience they can keep retargeting to.
This is a game changer, as anyone in business knows, personal brand and audience scaling, in the 2020s is your only hope.
Education & Awareness
The aim is to keep making people more aware. Even today travelling or going to restaurants can be a nightmare for those who need wheelchair access, or even just a sense of security and that they will not be seen as a hindrance.
Both of them often get invited to schools and conferences, to present and highlight issues within the spaces of disability. And to say they’re well received is an understatement.
The more they spread the message, the more the current message gets changed.
And for the boys, you can see clearly, that this is what it’s all about.
How Did I, Meet Brad and Dan?
I had the pleasure to work with AAL, before building out Nexus Gecko, and I can’t tell you how much I adore them.
They are so positive and motivated, I’ve never seen anything like it with anyone else.
I know these two are only just getting started, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
How they’ll build out their own products or systems for others to use. Where they’ll travel to next, and where they can take things over the next 5 years.
Boys, I love you both so much! And thank you so much for kicking off Nexus Gecko’s new series here on LinkedIn.
If you'd like to find them on LinkedIn, you can find Brad here, and Dan here.
I asked them both, who are their 3 favorite creators on LinkedIn, and people to look out for. They said:
If you or someone you know would love to be highlighted in ‘The Best In’, and has an amazing story to tell, reach out to us here at claudia@nexusgecko.com.
What is Nexus Gecko?
Nexus Gecko is a content agency, founded by Claudia Lee. We are a concise team of writers, SEO specialists and graphic designers who build content systems for companies all over the world, to help them scale revenue, on autopilot.
If you would like to know more about having an entire year of content built and managed for you, in just 30 days, you can reach out to us here.
Let us show you what we can do for you.
