Employment, Success Stories

Leonard Mayberry’s Pathways to (Self) Employment

Leonard Mayberry – rodeo worker, welder, steel worker, supervisor of a city crew – shares his new life story beginning at June 30 2018, about 2:30 in the afternoon.

“I was an active human being with a beautiful life and not a problem in the world that I couldn’t deal with. Everything changed,” said Mayberry, born, raised and still residing in Needville, Texas – a rural place in the Houston metropolitan area. “I was riding my motorcycle on a country road, not much traffic, when a lady made a U-turn from the far right lane across two lanes of traffic. I had just shifted into third gear – 3000 RPM – about 50 mph. I hit the ground, holding onto my bike. I didn’t realize how bad I was hurt, but I had a whole bunch of internal injuries.”

Leonard Mayberry An ambulance took Mayberry to a branch of Memorial Herman Hospital, where the small emergency room staff detected internal blooding and called for a life flight. Less than a half hour later, he was at the main Memorial Herman in Houston, fighting for his life.

“I never lost consciousness from the crash to the first hospital. They finally let me take my helmet off, I boarded the life flight and I woke up nine days later. I was in a coma,” said the 52-year-old Mayberry. “My body absorbed 95 percent of the impact.”

Mayberry was in the ICU, still battling internal injuries, for 40 days. Then he went to a skilled nursing facility, where they continued to monitor deep drops in blood pressure. Mayberry finally went to outpatient physical therapy, but an intestinal infection sent him back to the hospital. Ultimately, he was sent to inpatient rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Herman in Houston.

“They taught me how to live, put my clothes on, go to bathroom by myself — how to live independently,” Mayberry said. They told me my body went into lifesaving mode and stopped pumping blood to my lower extremities and that’s the reason I am paralyzed. I started out as a T 6/7 complete and recovered back to an L-3 incomplete. I started out feeling nothing below my chest, but now I can feel to my knee on my right leg and my left leg is good – but I don’t have full function because of damage to my foot.”

Mayberry had his own place and was working as a supervisor of a bridge inspection crew for the City of Houston. He had worked hard, with his hands and body, all his life – learning to be a welder at age 18.

“I worked on some of the biggest high rises in Houston. I used to take people to show them where I welded my name into a spot,” he said. “I always told my bosses to give me a full day’s work, because I wanted full pay.”

When he left rehab, Mayberry moved in with his parents – in their 70s – because it was more accessible than his home, though not outfitted for a person who uses a manual wheelchair for mobility.

“I couldn’t get in the bathroom and get in the shower. I wasn’t strong enough to get in or turn myself over in my bed,” he said. “I had to get my health back, because my mom’s health was declining because she was focusing on me.”

Though he tried to return to work for the City of Houston – detailing how the use of drones and other technology would allow him to return to his work as a field supervisor – the city balked and forced him to separate from the city on disability status. Mayberry is still exploring legal options on that front.

“People say you did great at the city, you were promoted, you’d been with them almost 10 years, why didn’t you fight?,” he said. “And I explain, I was fighting for my life. It’s just one more thing that is difficult after an injury. And in Texas, you only have to carry $30,000 in liability insurance, so the woman that caused the crash – that’s all she had. And SSI doesn’t cover expenses, not even rent in a small apartment in an expensive big city.”

Now Mayberry is focused on starting a business that will combine his experience with the opportunity to help other people with disabilities. He has seen first-hand the failings of publicly-operated paratransit. And he has met wheelchair users who have paid sky high prices for medical transport ambulances – sometimes using them simply to get from an airport to a conference at a nearby hotel because of lack of accessible transportation.

Mayberry, the blue-collar guy who “used to rodeo” when he was young, now is using “the other side of my brain” to work up a business plan and cut through the red tape. He’s a regular on the Zoom meetings hosted by United Spinal’s Pathways to Employment Resource Group.

Leonard Mayberry

“I’m working on starting my own non-emergency medical transport business,” he said. “The Pathways to Employment group has been great – giving business plan support and even talking about location. I was thinking about cheap land outside Houston, but I got good advice that having a small central location for the fleet means I’m closer to the heart of the city and clients.”

Mayberry said it’s a long haul. He has to get a Department of Transportation (DOT) number and he has to pass the Commercial Driver License (CDL) exam – which entails driving a big rig and other intense physical requirements that will not be part of his driving a wheelchair-accessible van with an automatic transmission. After medical bills and loss of income, he also needs to seek funding for a good condition used accessible van – which costs about $40,000. Then comes insurance, scheduling, dispatching, location for a growing fleet and other operational expenses.

He said the Pathways to Employment team and peers have helped him persevere. Mayberry credits Rafferty Laredo, United Spinal’s former Houston chapter president, who he met at an Abilities Expo, with fueling his entrepreneurial spirit. Mayberry will continue to reach out via the Pathways virtual social hour for support as he explores grants, low interest loans and other support for a small business launch.

“United Spinal, I credit them with getting the ADA laws in place and pushing to protect rights of people with disabilities. I didn’t know anything about ADA when I got injured. Now, I have [United Spinal] telling me about accommodations, saying they have to accommodate me through this process of getting a CDL, a DOT number and getting through the red tape,” he said, referring to the Pathways to Employment live chats.

Mayberry praised the Pathways to Employment program as both practical and a form of group therapy.

“You go to a job interview in a wheelchair, you can’t hide it. You go through 100 `no’s’ to get to one `yes.’ I’m still looking for that one `yes,’” he said.

“The city medically separated me – they say ‘you’re broken,’ Mayberry said. “I’m the kind of person that the minute you count me out, you made a big mistake — I’m not going quietly.”

Check out the latest episode of United on Wheels with host Paul Amadeus Lane and special guest Leonard Mayberry:

 

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month

  • Steve Wright

    Steve Wright posts disability advocacy and Universal Design ideas daily at his blog: Urban Travel, Sustainability & Accessibility.