Cracking the accessibility barrier in the MLS 

Barry Long says he "should be dead." But the now-mid-life real estate agent somehow escaped death at age 22 after crashing his motorcycle. He has been a paraplegic ever since.

Long enrolled in community college following a grueling eight-month hospital stay, his dream of being a fishing and hunting guide seemingly impossible in the wake of the crash. He later challenged himself by traveling the world for over two years — a journey that showed him "what the world was like, getting around in a wheelchair."

"People seemed to be motivated by me doing it," Long told Real Estate News in a recent interview. "The next thing I know, I'm talking to kids about making good choices and I'm talking to adults about not being held down by life … and it turned into a public speaking company."

A new passion

Long spoke to groups of all kinds for over 30 years. But his direction changed 11 years ago when he delivered a keynote speech at a Sotheby's International Realty affiliate in Seattle.

Long found that his message — challenging real estate professionals to change the system that made it nearly impossible for him to find a home with accessibility features — really stuck. A month later, Sotheby's offered to pay for him to get his license — if he came to work for them and create a solution for the broken system.

Years later, Long and business partner Tom Minty have earned accolades — including the 2026 NAR Fair Housing Champion Award and the 2025 King County Small Business of the Year Award — for their work pursuing this mission.

Founding Able Environments

After Sotheby's offer, Long was introduced to Minty at John L. Scott Real Estate. The two share a passion for making the industry more accessible and quickly found that they make a great team. Their goal? "To see if we could fix the lack of accessibility in the system," Long explained.

Initially, Minty conceived their now co-founded company Able Environments as an informal place for agents to find accessibility resources online. Once the two teamed up, they decided to make it a bona fide business, one that's now co-branded with Marketplace Sotheby's International Realty and John L. Scott. 

While they describe Able Environments as an "accessibility-focused consulting company," it goes beyond that definition. For example, the company offers an Association of Real Estate License Law Officials-approved Accessibility Real Estate Specialist (ARES) training program. The specialist designation — which Long and Minty aspire to get approved in every state — currently counts for 10 continuing education credit hours in Washington and Ohio.

Able Environments more recently partnered with Washington state-based multiple listing service Northwest MLS and the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO). That work resulted in the identification of 12 home accessibility features that can be noted when a listing is added to the MLS and selected as search criteria for home shoppers.

Why hasn't more been done to address accessibility in housing?

There exists a 36-year gap between the time protections for persons with disabilities were codified into law via the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and now, when Able Environments is helping establish accessibility search standards for home listings.

Long suspects little was done previously to make home accessibility features more searchable in part because of agents' fears of accidentally violating fair housing laws. "We're a litigation-heavy industry where, if you do something wrong, you can get sued for it," he said. "Especially when it comes to fair housing and protected classes — people really shy away from it for those reasons."

Another challenge: Determining which data points needed to be captured for accessibility search criteria — and learning how to implement changes within the MLS's proprietary systems. In this regard, Long said working with NWMLS's development team was a significant help.

There's also a common assumption that "accessible" either means DIY or "hospital-eque." But as technology has advanced, home accessibility features have improved significantly, Long said, and can be a value-add for many buyers. In some homes, "you wouldn't even be able to see the accessibility features," he said. "Yet there's still this mindset in real estate — especially old-school real estate — that accessibility is a devaluation of a property."

With that perspective in mind, Long and Minty have been striving to increase awareness among appraisers about the value accessibility features can add.

What's next for Able Environments?

After working with RESO on standardizing accessibility search criteria, Long is hoping other MLSs will jump on board. In the meantime, some of the country's top search portals have expressed interest in Long's work. "I'm working with all of them now so that in, say, the next six months, anybody in the country is going to be able to go into Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, Trulia and search for accessibility," he explained.

Another big objective for Able Environments is creating a nonprofit MLS consulting arm, which they aim to call the Real Estate Accessibility Standards Alliance (REASA). Its mission will be to "drive the national adoption of accessibility data standards, education and best practices throughout the real estate industry so accessibility information can be consistently captured, searched and shared across the country," Long said.

The nonprofit's board will be independent of Able Environments and its co-founders — something Long and Minty feel is important.

Agents, don't be afraid to ask questions

Long believes Able Environments has made huge strides in getting the word out about accessibility issues in real estate. But there is certainly more that can be done — especially when it comes to educating others about the value of accessibility.

"It's not dollar-for-dollar," he explained. "The value depends on the buyer. So for you, my house would be nice. For me, it's imperative."

He urges agents who have clients with disabilities to learn as much about their needs as possible — and discourages fear of discussion.

"'The more questions you ask me, the better our communication and your comfortableness is going to be, and you're going to be able to get me where I want to go,'" Long recalled a friend with cerebral palsy once telling him.

"'I'm just like everybody else — I need to buy a house.'"