Gumbert is supported by BraunAbility, and his dealer, MobilityWorks, in Buda, TX. When you purchase a mobility product from BraunAbility, you join a powerful community.
Former Team USA wheelchair rugby coach James Gumbert has led wheelchair rugby athletes to the Paralympic Games five times, taking home a medal each time. Known by many as "Coach Gumbie", he has lived much of his life in a wheelchair. At 18 years old, he was involved in a car accident resulting in a broken neck. While he was able to walk thanks to a bone grafting procedure, Gumbert was unaware of how drastically his life would change following the accident. Gumbert’s bones healed incorrectly after the grafting, and doctors gave him two options: wear a neck brace for the rest of his life, or have another surgery.
He described the second surgery, saying, “On April 13th, I walked into the hospital, and because of complications, I woke up paralyzed. Since then, I have been in a wheelchair. My diagnosis is a C5-C6 quadriplegic.”
title
A Loyal BraunAbility Customer
Injured before the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Gumbert emphasized the world was largely inaccessible to him at the time, but he had a strong desire to "not just exist, but live".
His first car was a Chevrolet Citation, built with a rooftop storage box for his wheelchair, similar to the BraunAbility Chair Topper. He used the system for about five years before transitioning to a non-accessible vehicle, disassembling and reassembling his wheelchair each time he went out. When he found that process to be tiring, he transitioned to a wheelchair van. A longtime BraunAbility customer, today he drives a wheelchair accessible Toyota Sienna Hybrid.
The BraunAbility Toyota Sienna Hybrid
If you catch Gumbert driving down the road, he might be listening to the Star Wars Imperial March, as the vehicle’s dark colors remind him of Darth Vader. Aside from the vehicle’s sleek look, Gumbert also enjoys the functionality of the van.
Being a wheelchair user for over 40 years, Gumbert said the “creature comforts,” (vehicle adaptations), “...become more appealing as we get older.” He described features like the touch screen and sound system, saying these features are “the key to making driving easier.”
“Driving shouldn't have to be work. It should be something that you enjoy, and the Toyota has done a really good job in that,” he said.
Gumbert also enjoys the hybrid component of the wheelchair accessible vehicle, which maintains the same estimated 36 mpg fuel efficiency as a non-accessible Toyota Sienna.
Gumbert said, "The hybrid conversion was huge for us because gas prices are high. When you're trying to find ways to save money, being able to have the hybrid component that helps with fill ups is huge."
BraunAbility Wheelchair Van for Families
As a husband and father of teenage twins, Gumbert finds his wheelchair van brings family and friends together.
He said, “My daughter and I love to drive together. That's our thing. We basically get in the van and say, ‘where do you want to go?’, and just drive until we find something.”
He described their trips saying, “[We find] hole-in-the-wall places out in the middle of nowhere, Texas. That’s something that we truly enjoy.” He continued, saying, “We’ve gone to an African safari place where you could drive through and see animals from your car. We've been to museums. We've been to amusement parks.”
The two try to stay within 100 miles of their home, making day trips on the weekend. Gumbert said the time he spends with his daughter on the road is “Dad and daughter time. That's the time when we get to share and talk.”
A self-proclaimed family and community “Uber driver”, Gumbert says he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love the van because it's my way of sharing stuff with the kids. It's my way of connecting to them”, he said. He also enjoys sharing transportation duties within his community, often taking his son to football practice, along with fellow teammates.
According to Gumbert, his van is popular among many kids in the community. “Everybody wants to ride because they love the ramp. It comes out and it's lit up with LED lights, and the kids are like, ‘wow, that's cool,’” he said.
When Gumbert hears kids say they want to ride in his van, he feels empowered, helping to “smash stereotypes about disability” and showing others that people with disabilities can drive and live independently.
While Gumbert enjoys driving his van, he’ll soon be able to give up the self-proclaimed title as “family Uber driver.” As his kids work to get their licenses, they’ll learn to drive his van, which Gumbert emphasized will be especially helpful in situations of handicap parking misuse.
Enabling Local Athletes through Adaptive Sports
When he’s not driving friends and family around, Gumbert is still heavily involved in adaptive sports. Currently, he works as a public speaker, adaptive sports coach, and an Executive Director of the Texas Stampede Foundation, which works to provide resources and opportunities to young wheelchair rugby athletes.
According to Gumbert, his wheelchair van plays a crucial role in keeping up with his active lifestyle. He wants others who are interested in BraunAbility mobility products to know, “The van is the conduit — It's the way that we are able to go do things and enjoy each other, and it’s worth every penny.”
Read Other Customer Stories
