Alto Creates First Advantage Club for People With Disabilities

Military veterans have advantage clubs, senior citizens get discounts through membership-based programs, so why not offer something similar to people with disabilities, Moshe Gaon asked himself when founding Alto, the first advantage club for people with disabilities and their families. Before launching Alto, Gaon founded yoocan, an American-Israeli company designed to educate and motivate people with disabilities and their families.

Now, Gaon has taken the company’s mission to empower those with disabilities one step further by creating a membership-based program that provides exclusive discounts on products designed for people living with a disability. “There are many products and services people would love to get advantages on,” Gaon said. “But everything is scattered and hard to find.”

Both yoocan and Alto were inspired by Gaon’s family’s experience, after his nephew was born with a rare disease. “Families with disabilities spend more money than other families,” Gaon told The Mighty. “We have special needs, need special insurances.”

Alto works by aggregating services that already exist for people with disabilities – like free wheelchair rentals at popular attractions – as well as offering exclusive discounts on products geared towards people with disabilities. Alto works with vendors to negotiate special discounts on products for its members.

Services aggregated by Alto can be viewed for free by anyone accessing the site. Those interested in buying products will have to become a member. Membership is offered on a trial basis of $4.95 for 30 days or $59.90 per year ($4.99 a month).

Products currently available include sensory-friendly toys for kids and adaptive living products. “Usually the savings on one or two items justifies the cost of membership,” Gaon said. Average discounts range from 5 to 20 percent off.

“There’s nothing like this for the disability community in the U.S.,” Gaon said. “There should be a solution that will allow people to be empowered and get the amazing benefits and discounts they deserve as a community.”

Anyone in the world can become a member, Gaon said. However, Alto only works with American vendors at this time, meaning those outside of the U.S. would need to check that the item could be shipped internationally.