Lauren Justice
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, Autumn Neugent is able to stay active and independent thanks to an adaptive Toyota Sienna.
Autumn Neugent hadn’t adapted fully to the sensitivities of her new 2015 Toyota Sienna when she picked me up on a recent Friday afternoon for a spin around Madison’s north side. We’d barely gotten underway when we lurched to a halt.
“Soooorrrrry!” she apologizes as we’re thrust forward and then flung back into our seats. “The brakes are touchier than I’m used to.”
It’s a gorgeous fall afternoon; North Sherman Avenue is awash in sunshine, and students from Shabazz High School are streaming jubilantly into the weekend. As we approach cruising speed, Neugent, 35, cracks a wide grin when asked if she is pleased with the vehicle.
“It’s amazing!”
A new ride is always a big deal. But for Neugent, who has multiple sclerosis, the panache of this adaptive black smart-vessel is second only to the assurance it will get her from here to there with relative ease.
“You don’t realize how you take for granted things like being able to just jump into a car,” she says, “until you can’t do it.”
Since 2009, the year she was diagnosed with MS, the hard-charging athlete with once boundless energy has gone from dependence on a cane, to walker, to crutches, to a wheelchair as her legs became increasingly unreliable. “Sometimes they work; sometimes they don’t,” she says.
A degenerative autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis impedes communication between the brain and central nervous system by destroying the protective sheathing that is to a nerve fiber what rubber insulation is to an electric wire. Her body’s circuitry, in essence, is short-circuiting.
“Up until a year ago, I was driving the 2010 Honda CRV I bought the day I was diagnosed,” says Neugent. “It would freak out the valet’s at St. Mary’s Outpatient to see me in my wheelchair with no adaptations in the car.”
The Sienna is among a new generation of adaptive vehicles that, unlike their finicky predecessors, are as sleek and sophisticated as they are safe and sound.
“They’ve improved drastically, and keep improving every year,” says Brian Williams, a salesman with Waukesha’s Mobility Works. “These days, there isn’t much we can’t do.”
They can also be prohibitively expensive, even for working folk like Neugent. Fortunately, the state Department of Workforce Development’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation footed the vehicle’s $65,500 tab, allowing her to manage a schedule that, in spite of her condition, includes a full-time job, medical appointments, a 16-year-old daughter and a variety of sports, including rock climbing, kayaking and softball.
Multiple sclerosis has sapped her energy, but not her drive. “Physical activity is so important to your mental health,” she says. “Moving around was my identity.”
She retired her Honda last year after raising $10,000 for an 11-year-old Dodge minivan with hand controls, swivel seat and ramp, but it didn’t fit her needs.
“The first trip we took in it, to Indiana, the throttle cable broke, so there wasn’t any acceleration,” she says.
The tow truck driver hitched up the van, but wouldn’t let Neugent hitch a ride due to liability issues around her using a wheelchair. A good Samaritan eventually gave her a lift to a gas station, where she was met by a friend.
“There are a lot of roadblocks when it comes to using a wheelchair,” she says.
Not that roadblocks or rules have ever stopped her.
Neugent didn’t think much of it when her feet, hands and front torso suddenly went numb during East High School’s 1994 volleyball season. The numbness subsided, but returned periodically over the next 16 years, each time with a new doctor-confounding symptom, until the telltale scar tissue was discovered on her brain after a softball injury failed to properly heal.
“It wasn’t stopping me from doing anything, so I kind of got used to it,” she says of the symptoms. “It was just one of those things that life throws at you. I adapted and went on.”
Adaptive vehicle features
Tri-pin spinner: Allows hand to remain in one position while steering
Steering wheel settings: Eliminates the tilt and telescope of steering column
Ramp: Vehicle lowers when ramp extends
