Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Facilities N( For Wheelc] "The hardest part o wheelchair is the, do not accept it. S the wheelchair fi the person." BY VIVIAN DAVIS Of The Gamecock staff Rita Addy was born in 1954 with a congenital birth defect known as amytonia. When she was nine months old the doctors discovered that she had the defect which would never allow for the development of muscle tone. Now Rita is 21, a itninr education major at USC and, as she has for the past 15 years, spends most of her time in a wheelchair. "The hardest part of accepting the wheelchair is the fact that others sometimes do not accept it. Some people look at the wheelchair first, before looking at the person," Rita said. Rita said she began making plans to come to USC three years ago as a senior in high school. Vocational Rehabilitation got in touch with her to offer financial - assistance and to help her begin her new life as a student. Rita said she contacted Mimi Parrot, assistant dean of residence life, who has helped her with problems during the past three years. On her first trip to the campus, Rita and Nancy, the girl who was to be her roommate, looked at their future dormitory room. Capstone had been suggested as the women's dorm best suited for wheelchair students, Rita said. Private baths, a cafeteria and inqorm mail service were offered at Capstone. The first thing the girls noticed about the room, Rita said, was the shower door which was replaced with a curtain and the closet rods which were lowered within Rita's reach. A hand rail was installed next to the toilet. In fall 1972, Rita and Nancy began their freshman year. "We moved in on the eighth floor of Capstone," Rita said. "The problem with the eighth floor was that there was no way to get out in case of a fire drill or a real fire. Someone would have to carry me down. During a fire drill, someone sent the elevator up for me, but during a real fire those elevators are cut off." An additional change in the room was moving the telephone. "We decided to move the phone off the wall onto the desk," Rita said. "If it rang at night I couldn't get up to answer it if I were alone." Rita moved to the second floor of Capstone after two years. By that time Nancy had dropped out of school and Rita was rooming with Karen. To travel around the campus Rita has an electric cart similar to a golf cart. "Vocational Rehabilitation got me an electric cart andi an lectric wheelchair for Deigned tair Student f accepting the fact that other people ime people look at rst, before looking at a trial period. I decided to get the cart because the campus has such a rough terrain," Rita said. "My first year Nancy took me to all my classes because all our classes that year were in the same buildings and at the same times. When I first started using the cart, working was being done on the Pickens St. Bridge. A wheelchair wouldn't have gone over that," Rita said. Rita said that curbs are a problem. "Sometimes I can get down from one block but can't find a way to get up onto the next one," she said. "Construction work is always a tremendous problem to me. It seems the workers could leave one path open. Work on Gibbes Green caused a lot of inconvenience to me," she said. "It used to be that no curbs were fixed and I'd have to drive the cart down people's driveways. Once I was stopped by the Campus Police because I had to go around the Horseshoe the wrong way," she said. "My arms are so weak I need both of them to drive the cart, and when it's raining I can't hold an umbrella. I either cut class or find someone with a car to take me to class and come back for me." Rita said the worst experience with the cart happened last semester. She was crossing Sumter and College streets when the cart stopped in the middle of traffic. Rita said she waved at a city policeman, but he only waved in return. Finally a girl who was crossing the street saw Rita and came to help. The girl found a city policeman who called for help. Rita said the same policeman who waved to her came to help. He told her he thought she was just being friendly. "The cart tore up again a week later. The same cops helped me TODAY, J1 5:00 F (RAIN LOCATION-RI ItI Rita Addy ge again. That meant another three days of going to classes in the wheelchair," she said. "Once the cart was in the shop for six weeks," Rita said. "Sometimes I'd have to ask strangers to push me, and I don't like to do that." Rita says that getting into a building is sometimes as difficult as getting to the building. "Three of my required courses are in either McMaster or Sloan," Rita said, "and I can't get in. We're trying to get one section of those courses moved or else have some strong reliable male to help me into the building." Because she is an education major, most of Rita's courses are in Wardlaw. It took two years to get a ramp built so that she could get into that building. "Last year with the help of Dr. Charletta Davis, a ramp was built so I could get into Wardlaw. The elevator in Wardlaw is too small for the cart so I have an extra wheelchair to use just in that JNE 26thAT .m. L. CAFETERIA) SPONS( ts a helping hand from J building," Rita said. Now the brakes on the extra wheelchair are worn out, and Rita has to get someone to pick her up and put her in the wheelchair. "I always look for some guy I know, but one day I didn't see anyone but the Coca-Cola man filling up the drink machine," Rita said. -"The only thing for me to do was go up to him and ask him to help me. Hle was really big man, and picked me up under the arm pits. I haven't been picked up like that since I was five years old." "I had to take one correspon dence course because I couldn't get down the curb to the PE center where the course was held. When I took that course it cost $60 extra," she said. ThsEume iaiatndn the arhedowngth handlro.. NoThe bwrsae on the verao whei mosibe. wor cuan itah andeputhhir in the whelcingr.o "I awy ooBo om u knw,bu oedyIdnte anyoE bUt SSECcaCLa filn u h rikmcin,P iA said "TenY hingI for t d se. W m Cooper. part of the shower. I have to get someone to put a straightback chair in the shower, set me in it and take me out when I'm finished," Rita said. She said the elevators in South Building do not close as fast as the ones as Capstone and that the elevator buttons are sometimes too high to reach. "I know everything can't be fixed, but some things can," Rita said. "I've found very few people who've refused to help me. I don't like to ask strangers unless it's absolutely necessary," she said. "All I've ever known is the wheelchair. I've accepted it, but that doesn't mean I don't get depressed. "My father says he has a typical daughter except she travels in a wheelchair. I've done a lot of things people would think a girl In a wheelchair couldn't do. I've ridden horses, a motorcycle and the Myrtle Beach roller coaster," Rita W 9 L HOUSE TIG E UNIVERSITY U NION