My name is John Morris. In the Fall of 2012, a car accident changed the course of my life. Severe burns laid claim to three of my limbs, making me a triple amputee. Shock, fear, anger, sadness, hopelessness. Yes, I grappled with all of those emotions. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.
Before my disability, I was a traveler. I took flights for no other reason than to fly. I explored destinations all around the world, sometimes for only a day or two. Travel was, in effect, my first true love.
I refused to surrender that to disability.
And so, more than a year after my car accident, with bedsores, amputations and all, I took my first trip as a disabled person… to Los Angeles. It was a joyous occasion—my alma mater, Florida State University, won the college football national championship game. And I was there.
But planning that trip was difficult. The internet was filled with unreliable information about traveling with a disability. Nothing I read prepared me for what traveling with a wheelchair is actually like. As I began to take more trips—to Washington, D.C., then to Boston, Seattle and finally to Beijing, China—I asked myself, why hasn’t someone created a resource that tells me what I need to know?
