A Massachusetts woman in a motorized wheelchair is shoveling the sidewalks of her town — inspiring others to chip in.

Crystal Evans, 33, of Braintree, did not let her neuromuscular disease stop her from starting a business or a family, so she won’t let it get in the way of keeping her neighborhood safe, according to local media.

"I started rolling down the sidewalk to get to the post office, and I looked back and I saw a clear path," she told WCVB. "And I was like, 'Oh, I could clear the sidewalks for everybody.'"

Evans, the mother of a 4-year-old girl, has spent more than 100 hours clearing off the sidewalks in Braintree since January, according to the ABC affiliate.

Snowstorms in the Boston area have been particularly brutal this winter. At times, the accumulation has been so overwhelming that several townships have considered dumping excess snow into bodies of water or gone ahead and done so.

Evans, who feels that everyone can do his or her part under these circumstances, runs a business from her home making party supplies but frequently spends up to five hours per day shoveling, the Patriot Ledger reported.

"With the shovel," she said, "I can put it down between my footrests and roll with the chair, and it just clears a path."

She is also part of a movement that wants the International Symbol of Access changed from a passive person in a wheelchair to an active person in a wheelchair.

"There is so much stigma of what people believe a disabled person is; they don't expect us to be working,” Evans told WCVB. “They don't expect us to be out in the community.”





