My first goal right now is to raise awareness for what I go through as a handicap person!
I am trying to explain some of the things I go through in the my story tab. It is a hard thing to do and I have never really considered myself very good at grammar. The things I have had to deal with, I have always kept private and didn’t like sharing. I have always thought of myself as the same as everyone else, so sharing it almost makes me feel different. I guess I am different, as we all are. Maybe if I share some of what I have to do through, it can open the eyes of others and maybe help them to help someone else who was like I was and didn’t have the nerve to step up and tell them what would make their life easier.
I am thinking about a Youtube channel and maybe a tiktok account so that I can also show you some of what I go through instead of just telling you.
I want to expand my motorsports team.
I really wanted to get into full size racing. My reason for wanting to race is there is already so many things I can’t do because I can’t walk and am stuck in a chair. It leads me to not feel normal in a way and something like racing can help you regain that. To be able to compete is something gives you a sense of accomplishment and right now racing is the only thing that I feel I would be able to compete in. Maybe I can be an inspiration to others, to help them feel more normal as well, and show them that they can compete as well.
However, I changed my size. I got into RC Truck pulling. I realized that if something was to go wrong in a full size vehicle (like a fire or something), that I would not be able to escape. Therefore I downsized my ambitions and started an RC team.
Visit the Mobility Motorsports section for more information.
Retaining Mobility Challenge
It is in the same vein as the consultant business idea. Basically I could bring a chair to you and you could experience what being in a chair is like first hand. It would be nice to take like a box trailer or something and setup basically an obstacle course of simple things like doors and sinks and show you how difficult some of that can be. A trailer would obviously require some funding though. To make this a reality, I will need to figure out a waiver form to protect both sides as well as some guidelines to determine how far to travel. It sort of feels a little wrong to charge someone for this experience, but I also will have a certain amount of travel and maintenance expenses.
I want to partner with some people that can help add things to the market.
I have already been in talks with someone about getting a handicap travel trailer to market. I have talked with someone about getting a new manual hand control to the market for handicap racers. I want to talk to someone about building a handicap lawn mower that can be sold. Basically I am looking to help build or extend the range of things available to handicap people or their families. I feel like there is a market there that currently is not being met, as I know I can not be the only one wanting these things.
My thought is there is no reason that bigger companies shouldn’t be able to provide lines of product that are handicap accessible. Even if they aren’t as profitable as other aspects of their business, helping to include people because it is the right thing to do should be enough. Right now it is hard to find handicap items such as lawn mowers, or kayaks. Other items such as accessible campers exist but can be cumbersome to locate on the internet. I want to work with some of the bigger companies that sell items in these areas and push to make them easier to find and maybe even exist at all in some cases.
I want to build some non-traditional handicap accessible vehicles.
I want to build some just cool vehicles. Maybe start with an old 50’s panel van or something that would be easier to convert as a first project. Try to get my 80 chevy pickup where it is accessible. Maybe build a mini big truck that is accessible. Maybe build a full size semi show truck that is accessible. I have lots of ideas but will take the people to help me, and they get to add their ideas and projects to the list.
United States Tour
If I get into some of the other motorsports it will help me do this, but I want to see the country. Not only that but I would love to do an MLB stadium tour and a NHRA one and maybe even a NFL one as well. I would like to go to a home game of every MLB team, wear a home jersey for every team (thought long and hard about it and this would even include the Cubs and Yankees, even though I would hate myself and would be questioning my life choices when I was wearing it, GO CARDINALS!!). The reason I would like to do this is it would be a great memorabilia piece to display in my race shop or somewhere and I would probably try to get the jersey with the number of the year that it was when I went, even if it has to be a custom one. I think it would be a cool thing to get to say that I have been in all of these major cities and seen all of these ballparks or stadiums. I know it would probably be something that I would spread out over a couple of years and I have looked before and broke it down into 4 different trips. I could also use it as an opportunity to reach out and spread the Mobility Warriors group as I am sure their are racers in all of those cities and areas.
Entertainment Center that is handicap accessible!
After or maybe even during doing this, I would like to build an entertainment complex locally to where I live in Cuba, Missouri. I want it to be a fully inclusive experience where disable people can experience what normal people do. I want it to be purposely built with this in mind and not as a secondary thought, or like most, not at all (not taking a shot, I know it is not the majority of people, therefore it probably isn’t the most profitable avenue.). I want to have a go-cart track as well as bumper boats and an arcade and mini golf. I want it to have a batting cage and laser tag and maybe a skating rink and bowling. With the exception of maybe the skating rink, I want every one of the things I listed to have a handicap accessible option. I know in some cases it will be harder to do and will probably require an injury waiver but I see no reason why you can have a go-cart with hand controls or setup where it is a 2-seater where the 2nd seat is set up basically like a wheelchair with all the supports the same as a wheelchair would have. Same way with bumper boats. If you put the right kind of lift/sling setup in place, there is no reason why disabled people can’t have a very similar experience and I feel that disabled people from all over would come to experience it. Mini golf and the arcade may take a little more work to make them wheelchair accessible but I feel that it can be done and I have a few ideas on how to do that, the same way with the laser tag and batting cage. The main thing holding me back from doing this is I am just not sure if there is enough people in this area to make this work and getting enough people traveling through is a wild card.