Written by Everett Potter is a contributor to Forbes, the editor of Everett Potter’s Travel Report and an expert for National Geographic Expeditions. June 4, 2022
Cory Lee is one of the most intrepid travelers that I’ve had the pleasure to meet. His journeys to places like India, Morocco and Antarctica are just the start. In the past eight years, he has visited 39 countries and all seven continents. What makes this even more remarkable is that all of his travels were done in a powered wheelchair.
Diagnosed at age two with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (type 2), he got his first powered wheelchair at age four and went to Walt Disney World on his first trip. Now he documents his travels on his website CurbFree with Cory Lee: Sharing the World from a Wheelchair User’s Perspective. This is much more than a travel blog. Destination by destination, he details his days in a given destination, noting how accessible a destination is and the challenges faced by traveling in a wheelchair. Recent coverage includes wheelchair travel guides to places as diverse as Sarasota, Lake Tahoe and the Adirondacks. Not to mention Santiago, Chile and Montevideo, Uruguay.
“I began my website in 2013 when I was researching a trip to Australia and trying to find disability information,” Lee said. “It was hard to find which destinations were accessible. There was a lack of accessible travel info to destinations around the world. So I decided to become a resource and share that info.”
So which countries or cities are doing a great job?
“I think a lot of places are,” he says. “Scandinavia is one of the most accessible places. In Helsinki alone, there are 300 wheelchair-accessible taxis. As a rule, the United States also does a good job. We’re lucky to have the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On the other hand, if a country does not have an ADA designation, that doesn’t mean it’s completely inaccessible.