Accessible mats paving a smooth path to the ocean didn’t exist when Cory Lee was a kid, but his mother brought him to the beach anyway: when the boardwalk disappeared, she lifted him from his wheelchair and carried him across the sand herself.
“My mom raised me with the motto, ‘If you can’t stand up, stand out,’” Cory Lee says. “I definitely grew up with that mindset of not letting something like a wheelchair or disability limit me.”
The duo hit the road each summer, exploring East Coast destinations from Disney World to New York City. The wheelchair Cory Lee had used since being diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy as a toddler was a logistical challenge, but never a deterrent.
“Those trips started making me think, ‘What else is out there?’ And, if we traveled further, what else could I see?” he says.
Curiosity eventually propelled Cory Lee around the world, leading him to all seven continents by the time he turned 30. He’s floated in Iceland’s famed Blue Lagoon, ridden atop a camel in the Sahara and sampled roasted ants in Bogota, chronicling the many joys (and occasional mishaps) along the way on his popular blog, Curb Free with Cory Lee. (https://curbfreewithcorylee.com/)
“I really want to show other wheelchair users that more of the world is accessible so they can have these kinds of experiences,” he says.
Fans of the blog know to expect a vivid travelogue embedded with a comprehensive analysis of accessibility. In Lynchburg, Tennessee, Cory Lee describes the favorite whiskeys at Jack Daniel’s Distillery while noting the plentiful curb cuts throughout town; in Rome, he raves about a food tour brimming with artichokes, gelato and pizza but also provides an in-depth breakdown of Hoyer lift possibilities in his hotel room.
The blog is a celebration of discovering the wider world that is also honest about the challenges of wheelchair travel. Cory Lee describes his wheelchair battery charger short-circuiting in European power sockets, hotel rooms that need to be rearranged to navigate, and being temporarily stuck in the Sistine Chapel when the accessible lift malfunctioned. (Ok, maybe that one wasn’t so bad.)
“Something is always going to go wrong,” he says. “I think it’s all about the attitude you have when that happens. For every problem, there is a solution. And, in the end, it’s going to work out.”
When Cory Lee thinks about how far he’s come – and gone – since he was a kid dreaming about the world, he is amazed. But just as rewarding as the trips themselves is the feedback he regularly receives from readers.
“I get messages from people who were inspired to go to Spain, or who went hot-air ballooning after reading the blog,” he says. “That – along with a love of travel – is what really keeps me going. I want them to know they can do this, too.”