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- I like living around people that
work for the federal government.
A lot of those people are looking to give back to the public
so even though I'm in a big city and it's a little
bit high-paced here, I always feel very comfortable
asking fellow Virginians for help.
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I grew up in Colorado but Colorado is a little bit too
cold and a little too mountainous
for a person getting around on wheels.
I just have a little automatic
door opener on here to let me in.
Come on in.
Don't let the door hit you.
A little chilly in here actually so Alexa turn on fireplace.
[Alexa] Okay.
- I put a space heater in my fireplace and all
my lights are smart so it's really easy for me to
be able to control my environment with things like that.
I was 24 when I broke my neck.
I was going to school, I was just at a friend's house
they had a pool and I dove into the pool and hit my
head and dislocated my third and fourth cervical
vertebrae, just these vertebrae up in my neck here.
I was paralyzed right when that happened so it was
a huge impact on my life at that time.
I knew that my life was going to be more expensive
after I broke my neck and I needed to have an income
that was sufficient to cover the different medical
expenses I was going to have so
law school made sense for me.
I got into Duke at a law school class of about 200,
which I thought was good for me.
I wanted to go to law school where everybody knew my name
and I knew I could know everybody else's name
because I knew that wherever I
went I would need people's help.
I definitely thought working for the federal government
would be a good option for me and I ended up
getting a job offer at the Securities and Exchange
Commission in D.C. itself, which worked out great.
At work I have assistants that help me with getting
my coat on and off, eating my lunch, things like that.
Having that assistance at work has
really made it possible for me to work.
Sometimes I like to cheat and use the bike lanes a little.
I've been here about seven years.
A lot of people in Northern Virginia work for the military,
the CIA, congress, and the White House.
People always come up to me and say thank
you for your service but I definitely have not served
in the military, can't take credit for that.
Hi, oh, I didn't serve but thanks for your service.
Have a good one.
He saluted me.
I just drive my chair with this tube.
If I blow hard it accelerates, if I suck hard
it decelerates, if I blow soft it turns right,
if I suck softly it turns left.
When you're driving the chair you're always kind of aware
of ledges you can fall off so I don't want to be the
person that gets written up in the newspaper.
Any time I use the metro system out here I've got to
take at least two elevators to get down and I got to
swipe my card, I need help, every single step along the way
because I can't hit the buttons on the
elevators or swipe my cards easily.
Doing that day after day, that adds up,
that takes a lot of time of my day.
Do you mind if I turn?
The biggest reason why I chose to live in Virginia
was because they provide accessible transportation
to their residents through subsidizing wheelchair accessible
taxis for people with disabilities so most of the time
I take taxis everywhere and it's just a world of difference.
First of all, it's a lot more comfortable
and it's a lot faster just being able to call up a taxi
and get a ride to wherever I need to go easily.
That makes me much more likely to be a little bit more
spontaneous on a weekend and get
out and do stuff, do something fun.
Virginia makes it a lot more livable for somebody like me.
Thanks so much.
Kind of out of necessity, if I wanted to have the
successful career I wanted then I needed to go
someplace that was going to provide me those opportunities.
Virginia has been a place that has given me those chances.
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