What’s it like “street-riding” a motorized wheelcahir or “powerchair”? Short answer in five words: terrifying, scary, nerve-wracking, tense, daunting. I would have added nail-biting, but a stroke left me with use of only one leg and one hand. The latter I need to operate my powerchair, not biting fingernails.

Why would I be risking my life riding the streets of downtown Seymour — when I’m aware that recently in Bridgeport a wheelchair street-rider was killed in a collision with an SUV? The alternative is not going out at all, just wasting life away cooped up at home. Or, for tens of thousands of dollars, the state could send aides every day to take me out and push me to places downtown.

For more on this story, visit: Letter: Wheelchair ‘street-riding’ to church | Citizen’s News.