Rye Quadriplegic Drives for Uber

Your next Uber driver may be a quadriplegic from Rye:

"Luigi Girotto has always sought out a challenge, the trademark of his active lifestyle.

As a triathlete, scuba diver, skier and full-time jewelry consultant, Girotto was always up to something, and when he felt his jewelry career had grown stagnant in his small village in Italy, he picked up and moved to New York City.

“I was 40 years old and I had a career crisis,” Girotto said. “Nothing was challenging me enough.”

So in 2008 when a skiing accident in Austria left him paralyzed from the chest down, he didn’t view it as the end of his active lifestyle. Instead, it was just another challenge.

“My life was too easy,” Girotto said. “God just wanted me to have a more challenging life … it wasn’t a crazy accident. I was an expert in skiing, and it was the last day of vacation, the car was packed and we were getting ready to go. I went down the baby slope and crashed 10 feet from the car. It was a simple accident most people walk away from. So that’s how I know, God just wanted me to have a challenge.”

As a quadriplegic with a cervical spinal injury, some parts of Girotto’s life actually haven’t changed much. He still commutes five days a week by train from his home in Rye, N.Y., to Manhattan where he continues his career as a jewelry consultant, and he’s no less determined to lead an active life.

Though he hasn’t been back on the slopes, Girotto, 52, has found a new leisure activity: as an Uber driver in Connecticut."

Read the rest at Greenwich Time.