Wheelchair doesn't slow commuter down

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer | jsilverman@am-ny.com

July 11, 2007

The seven-mile commute from the Bronx to midtown might be considered easy by some standards, but everything changes when the commuter in question can't use his legs.

"Ten percent of your life is what happens to you, 90 percent is how you react to it," says Jeff Williams, 38.

Williams was only 13 when his best friend accidentally shot him. The two were playing with a relative's handgun. Both of Williams' lungs collapsed, and for six months doctors could not say for certain whether he would live or die.

The charismatic boy not only survived, but went on to complete the year's schoolwork from his hospital bed. Now a full-time budget analyst with Colgate-Palmolive, Jeff also works nights and weekends as a broker with the Manhattan firm Parker Realty Group.

He specializes in the Bronx, where he lives near Yankee Stadium with his 8-year-old son Jeff Jr. The daily commute to midtown, plus drives to show apartments to prospective buyers, means Jeff puts plenty of miles on his BMW 525.

"I'm in and out of my car maybe 30 times a day," he says. "I like to be able to jump around the city on the spur of the moment."

The car is modified to allow hand-controlled acceleration and breaking, so driving isn't the hard part. It's getting in and out of the driver's seat that makes Jeff an Extreme Commuter.

With practiced concentration, he manages to pull his body into the driver's seat, fold up his wheelchair, and then pull it in after him, resting it on the passenger's seat beside him.

It's an intricate dance that Jeff has mastered, although curbside snow banks in the winter can add a whole new level of complexity. Still, he overcomes the snow, just as he recently managed to change a flat tire while taking a road trip to visit family in North Carolina.

"I always teach my son that no matter how different someone appears to be, by no means does it have to stop them from being productive and successful in life."

The Extreme Commuter can be anyone who takes more than the average ride to work. Whether it's a complicated bus and subway transfer, an extra long ride, or just something that requires the person to get up really, really early, amNewYork wants to hear about it. Email your suggestions to jsilverman@am-ny.com