The First Wheelchair Accessible Van: Betsy

Rice was going about 55 mph on a highway when another driver overcorrected. While that driver walked away from the accident with minor injuries, Rice was paralyzed.

After 11 months of rehab, he returned home, but due to medical complications, he had to wait another six months before he could get behind the wheel.

Rice said, “I really didn't want to get out and go because I felt like it was a burden to do that.”

At the time, Rice was relying on family members for transportation, and he used a Hoyer lift to get in and out of his vehicle.

“I was in a manual wheelchair then because I was fresh out of rehab, and I was refusing to go into a power wheelchair. When you're young, you have this preconceived notion of what someone in a wheelchair looks like. I was very much that way, so I wanted to be in a manual wheelchair. I had not been released to drive yet, so everywhere we went, my family had to hoist me with the lift into the vehicle, lug my wheelchair, and lug the Hoyer lift in and out of the car,” he said.

After learning to drive with hand controls, Rice was eager to purchase his first wheelchair van, better known to him as Betsy.

“Betsy, she was the first one. That’s what I learned to drive on, and I tore her up. I still have her. I can't get rid of her. She’s old and faithful," Rice said.

Over the years, though, he was ready for a new vehicle. As a taller driver, Rice wanted a vehicle he could get in and out of without having to crouch. More importantly, he had started using a power wheelchair and was eager to find a vehicle that didn’t require him to transfer from his wheelchair to the driver’s seat.