(Gentle Music) - I like living around people that work for the federal government.

A lot of those people are looking to give back to the public, so even though I'm in a big city, and it's a little bit high-paced here, I always feel very comfortable asking fellow Virginians for help.

(Gentle Music) I grew up in Colorado, but Colorado is a little bit too cold, and a little too mountainous for a person getting around on wheels.

I just have a little automatic door opener on here.

Just let me in.

Come on in.

Don't let the door hit you.

(Floor Crunching) Little chilly in here actually, so... "Alexa, turn on fireplace."

- (Alexa) Okay.

- (Daniel) Pretty high tech, huh?

And all my lights are smart, so it's really easy for me to be able to control my environment with things like that.

I was 24 when I broke my neck.

I was going to school.

I was just at a friend's house.

They had a pool and I dove into the pool, and hit my head, dislocated my third and fourth cervical vertebrae, just these vertebraes up in my neck here.

I was paralyzed right when that happened.

So it was a huge disruption in my life at that time.

I knew that my life was gonna be more expensive after I broke my neck and I needed to have an income that was sufficient to cover the different medical expenses I was gonna have so... law school made sense for me.

I got into Duke at a law school class of about 200, which I thought was good for me.

I wanted to go to a law school at a place where everybody knew my name, and I knew I could know everybody else's name, because I knew that wherever I went, I would need people's help.

I definitely thought working for the federal government would be a good option for me.

And I ended up getting a job offer at the Securities and Exchange Commission in DC itself, which worked out great.

At work, I have assistants that help me with getting my coat on and off, you know, eating my lunch, things like that.

Having that assistance at work has really made it possible for me to work.

Sometimes I like to cheat and use the bike lanes a little.

Been here about seven years.

A lot of people in Northern Virginia work with the military, the CIA, Congress, and the White House.

People always come up to me and say, thank you for your service, but I definitely have not served in the military.

Can't take credit for that.

Hi, oh, I didn't serve, but thanks for your service.

Have a good one!

He saluted me.

I just drive my chair with this tube right here.

If I blow hard, it accelerates.

If I suck hard, it decelerates.

And if I blow softly, it turns right.

If I suck softly, it turns left.

When you're driving the chair, you're always kind of aware of the ledges you can fall off, so I don't want to be the person that gets written up in the newspaper.

Anytime I use the metro system out here, I got to take at least two elevators to get down, and I got to swipe my card.

I need help every single step along the way, because I can't hit the buttons on the elevators or swipe my cards easily.

Doing that day after day, that adds up.

That takes a lot of time out of my day.

Do you mind if I turn?

The biggest reason why I chose to live in Virginia was because they provide accessible transportation to their residents through subsidizing wheelchair accessible taxis for people with disabilities.

So most of the time I take taxis everywhere, and it's just a world of difference.

First of all, it's a lot more comfortable, and it's a lot faster.

Just being able to call up a taxi, and get a ride to wherever I need to go easily, that makes me much more likely to be a little bit more spontaneous on a weekend, and get out and do stuff, do something fun.

Virginia makes it a lot more livable for somebody like me.

Thanks so much.

Kind of out of necessity, if I wanted to have the successful career I wanted, then I needed to go someplace that was gonna provide me those opportunities.

Virginia has been a place that's given me those chances.

(Gentle.

steady Music)