{"id":4803,"date":"2022-04-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2022-05-27T14:26:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T22:26:36","slug":"path-to-the-road-getting-myself-road-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/path-to-the-road-getting-myself-road-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Path to the Road: Getting Myself Road-Ready\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Russell Rawlings, Statewide Community Organizer, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have never thought of myself as a vehicle owner. But, as a 45-year-old male with cerebral palsy who uses a powerchair (or \u201celectric wheelchair\u201d as I probably would\u2019ve said for the majority of my life), I\u2019m being presented with an opportunity to become a wheelchair accessible van owner for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had left Texas 21 years ago for the very reason that independent mobility options were entirely nonexistent in the suburban Houston area, where I lived with my parents. Sacramento, California was my destination, all because I knew exactly one person who let me know the public transportation system in Sacramento was (according to my friend) \u201cadequate\u201d for West Coast cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say that I am an avid fan of and advocate for accessible public transportation (Thank you, ADAPT!<\/a>) is probably an understatement. I can still recall my first trip to San Francisco in 2001 \u2014 my mind was completely blown that I was able to travel all the way from Sacramento to San Francisco without leaving my chair, thanks to Amtrak\u2019s Capitol Corridor service<\/a> and the Bay Area\u2019s BART<\/a> service. I\u2019ve made the trip so many times that it feels like second nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when I received an offer of family support for getting a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV), my brain\u2019s first reaction was\u2026 Why? I\u2019d lived the first half of my life understanding just how difficult life was without<\/em> a WAV. (I\u2019m going to start calling it just \u201ca van\u201d from here on, because it feels more authentic and less difficult to read.) And now, I had more than 20 years of experience with planning my life around public transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that it was a distinct possibility, though, I was confronted with another question. If I had a van, could I drive it? I knew because it was the first question I had, it was worth pursuing. Here at CFILC, we\u2019ve been working with Booster Fuels<\/a> to enable development of a regulatory framework for mobile fueling \u2014 the ability for the disability community (everyone, really!) To receive on-site full-service fuel refills on demand, via an app. I\u2019ve heard stories of folks in our community struggling to get assistance at gas stations, even though it is the law\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if the answer was no on driving, I would have access to reliable transportation that wouldn\u2019t leave me locked into a time schedule or stranded somewhere. I might still have to rely on others for driving, but where<\/em> and when<\/em> I could go would be significantly less restricted. To be honest, my primary choice of transit mode would still be my power wheelchair and a bus or train, and that wouldn\u2019t change…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow along here with me on the Path to the Road <\/em><\/strong>blog mini-series for \u201cWhere It\u2019s AT?\u201d<\/a> \u2014 I\u2019ll be sharing more about Booster Fuels (the near magical sounding future of on-demand, on-site fuel delivery) in my own path to the open road as I become a first-time WAV (a.k.a. van) owner. In the next installment, I\u2019ll share how I researched both the van and started the process for my driver\u2019s permit.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russell Rawlings, Statewide Community Organizer, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers I have never thought of myself as a vehicle owner. But, as a 45-year-old male with cerebral palsy who uses a powerchair (or \u201celectric wheelchair\u201d as I probably would\u2019ve said for the majority of my life), I\u2019m being presented with an opportunity to become…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-independent-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4803"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4809,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803\/revisions\/4809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}