I got the job. Oh man, Hong Kong? Should we? I asked my wife.

Im a quadriplegic wheelchair user. With a 3-year-old daughter and another on the way, moving all of us across the world seemed like the hardest possible thing at that moment. Obviously, plenty of wheelchair users live in Hong Kong , but it seemed absolutely extreme for us to add one more complication to our already full lineup.

I had never been to Hong Kong. The job offer came at the height of the coronavirus pandemic , and Hong Kong was not allowing visitors or tourists, so I could not take a trip before making a decision.

Hours of advice from trusted friends boiled down to: Its crowded. Its hilly. There are steps everywhere. The housing is tiny and expensive. How will you navigate that in a wheelchair?

But Id always dreamed of having an overseas job, and I knew we had to take our moonshot. So, to make it work in Hong Kong, I needed to reconsider what accessibility means and how I navigate my disability and independence.

In the U.S., independence for me is things like being able to drive where I want, go to any store I want, and use any sidewalk I want. But Hong Kong requires a different approach. It has different barriers, but I soon found it also has different solutions.