Frisco nonprofit All Wheels Up lands on Forbes accessibility list

For Collin County families who travel with disabled children or adults, All Wheels Up’s place on Forbes’ 2026 Accessibility 200 list is about more than recognition. It spotlights a Frisco nonprofit trying to solve a basic but stubborn problem in air travel: how to make flying safer and more dignified for passengers who use wheelchairs.

All Wheels Up, founded in Frisco in 2011, built its mission around safer accessible air travel after Michele Erwin flew with her son, Greyson, who has spinal muscular atrophy. The nonprofit says it was the first organization to fund and conduct crash testing of wheelchairs and wheelchair securement systems to FAA 16G dynamic testing standards, a technical milestone that puts the group at the center of a long-running debate over how airlines should accommodate passengers with mobility needs.

Forbes says the Accessibility 200 is its second annual accessibility list and was compiled from more than 700 interviews and conversations with industry experts, with guidance from a 12-member expert advisory board. The 2026 list includes organizations from 23 countries across six continents, giving All Wheels Up national and international visibility far beyond North Texas. For a local nonprofit, that kind of placement can matter to donors, advocates and transportation-industry partners who shape how quickly accessibility ideas move from advocacy to policy.

The recognition also lands against a federal policy backdrop that has been moving, if unevenly, for years. All Wheels Up says the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act included a feasibility study on wheelchair securement systems after years of advocacy. The group also says the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act added accessibility provisions, including a roadmap for in-cabin wheelchair securement and a feasibility study on wheelchair spots. Those measures underscore how closely the nonprofit’s work is tied to aviation rules, airline design and congressional action.

All Wheels Up has framed its goal in practical terms: increasing awareness and promoting safer, more dignified accessible air travel through research and advocacy. Its history also notes the launch of National Accessible Air Travel Day on Aug. 20, 2022, and its annual global forums on accessible air travel, which bring together stakeholders and experts. The broader policy stakes are real, too. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics requires airlines to disclose mishandled wheelchair and scooter data for operations on and after Dec. 4, 2018, with branded codeshare reporting starting Jan. 1, 2019.

For Frisco, the Forbes honor shows a homegrown nonprofit influencing a national accessibility fight from a suburban Collin County base. For travelers who use wheelchairs, it points to a future in which boarding, seating and securement are treated less as afterthoughts and more as standards.