Please enjoy Rusty’s piece about his experience transitioning from high school to college and the role DSP&S played in his success. Rusty has been a vocational specialist for 19 years and has been a C-5, C-6 quadriplegic since 1969.
Written by Rusty Krumm
Vocational Specialist, Workability III San Diego Community College District.
My story
My name is Rusty and, in the summer of 1969, between transitioning from elementary school to middle school, I dove into a swimming pool and became a C-5 and C-6 quadriplegic. At that time, the survival rate for quadriplegics was not very high, and the future for someone with a significant disability was less bright than it is today.
The first year of my injury was spent trying to survive. I had a blood clot that went from my leg to my lungs. Luckily, the doctor entered the room at same time I went into cardiac arrest and performed a lifesaving procedure. Later on, I had pneumonia that collapsed my lung and an emergency tracheotomy was performed to save my life again. I spent several months in ICU on a ventilator.
In 1969 the medical community (doctors, case managers, etc.) did not believe that a quadriplegic had a very good chance of surviving at home. So, after about four months in the hospital I was transferred to an institution called AI DuPont. AI DuPont was a place where parents dropped their disabled kids off to live forever. It was a nightmare of an experience where kids lived in a solarium-type of environment, most kids did not have any visitors. Most of us clung together like survivors of war as our lives were so uncertain. Most of our hopes lied in the thought of one-day graduating to the adult institution and leaving that place.
Fortunately, my parents did not give up. I constantly begged them to take me home. I imagine they were torn between the advice of the medical community and the love for their son. To everyone’s surprise one year later, in July of 1970, I went home to live with my family.
Talk about transitioning! Try to imagine being an able-bodied student attending elementary school then entering middle school as a disabled individual. Once again, I was trying to survive, most of my middle school experience consisted of this, but this time it was about emotional survival.
The school wanted to place me in special education classes which my parents refused. I spent most of my middle school years attending school in the morning and going to physical therapy in the afternoon. My parents’ goal was for me to walk again, my goal was to walk again. Needless to say, all the physical therapy in the world was not going to allow me to walk again. In the meantime, my educational middle school experience was a blur. It seemed as if teachers were basically pushing me along without many expectations.
My high school experience was a little bit different as you have to decide which track to pursue, either college or vocational course work. I did not think I had much of a choice as I did not see vocational classes as an option. The college track was challenging and teachers expected more. Although college seemed like the available path, I did not believe I could attend college. My beliefs were based numerous assumptions that turned out to be false.
I didn’t know anyone with a disability who attended college and did not have an example of mentor. I thought to myself, “How would I get to college?” when considering transportation. “How could I perform in college course work?” when considering if I would have access to tools- remember, no computers yet. I also needed medical care during the day and how could I get that at college? Those were just a few of the fears I was facing in early adolescence because I did not know what would happen after high school.
There was much to dislike about high school; however, it was a safe, predictable place that had a built-in system that I could function within. Also, by high school I was making friends and involved in school clubs. Towards the end of my senior year I can remember the thought of graduation. Not as a major accomplishment but with significant anxiety because I did not know what lied ahead.
After high school graduation, I had no direction at all. My classmates either went to college, served in the military, or got a job in a factory or construction. I did not see any of those choices as a possibility for myself. So after a year of doing nothing after high school my first vocational counselor entered my life, my mom. My mom came to me and said I had two choices, either get a job or go to college. That was a reality that was difficult for me to digest, but my mom was serious and motivated to see it happen.
In the summer of 1977, my mom and stepdad started driving me around the East Coast looking for a college for me to attend. One of our first visits was the University of Southern Florida in Tampa. I remember touring the campus and it was beautiful. There was a swimming pool outside the dorm which peaked my interest, but once inside the dorm I had a panic attack. The guide showed me the room that I would be in. It was like a 12 x 12 brick room in which the guide said I would be sharing with another student. Internal alarm bells went off, anxiety at its highest level as I had no ability, or skill, to explain my concerns of sharing a dorm room or living independently.
Thankfully, our next visit was to Dade County Community College in Miami, Florida. This time we were not given a guided campus tour. Instead we were directed to the Disabled Students Programs & Services (DSPS) office. The encounter that day in the DSPS office changed my life. The DSPS office was a one-person operation and the individual operating it was blind. I cannot recall her name. Yet, I remember the feeling of finding hope through this brief encounter with the DSPS counselor. It was my first encounter with an individual with a disability who was in a position of authority. The counselor gave us information regarding my rights with the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), and she was adamant about self-advocacy. At that time, I didn’t know much about self-advocacy. Anyhow, the counselor gave us a template of a to-do list along with encouragement that what we were doing was right and most of all possible. I remember leaving her office with a renewed sense that I can attend college.
I returned home to New Jersey after these college visits with a new determination to find a college to attend. My mom and stepdad were busy contacting politicians to advocate for my case with DOR to be reopened. When I was in high school we requested DOR services to have a ramp built. DOR sent a physician out to evaluate me. That physician determined that I was unemployable and I was denied DOR services. By self-advocating we were empowered and we were able to get the DOR unemployable ruling overturned so I could receive DOR services.
My timing to attend college could not have been any better. Because the disability movement of the late 60s and early 70s, and the new regulations of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, college campuses were starting to become accessible and available to disabled students. I found the perfect situation at Husson College in Bangor, Maine. In partnership with the Department of Rehabilitation, Husson College developed an independent living center for individuals with disabilities to live in campus dormitories. We were about eight individuals with significant disabilities that lived in a dorm and we were provided attendant care. This college experience was incredibly life-changing. Just being around other individuals with disabilities was life transforming.
Husson College not only provided an environment where individuals with disabilities could live independently, but they also provided academic and emotional support through a newly developed Disabled Students Programs & Services Department. DSPS staff were made up of adjunct professors in Math and English who provided academic guidance and support. They were tutors as well and they administered test accommodations.
I believe there were also a few general counselors as well because some professors would not give accommodations no matter what. I would consult with my DSPS counselors regarding professors not following the law. It was explained to me by the counselor that 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was fairly new and professors with tenure had significant influence. My DSPS counselor would eventually ask me, “Do you want to graduate on time, or fight?” That usually got my attention and I learned to find professors that were more accommodating towards individuals with disabilities.
I always felt that students with disabilities, DSPS departments and college campuses were significant in changing attitudes, biases, and awareness. I am forever grateful for my college experience and the invaluable connection I had with DSPS.
A lot has changed since I was in college and even more so in the last two and half years. I am sure services will continue to be offered online with some benefits. However, let’s not lose sight of our ability to connect and advocate with those who struggle with connections and have difficulty advocating. If it was not for the brief encounter with the DSPS counselor at Miami-Dade County College, I am not sure the quality of my life would not be as good as it is today. Thank you to all DSPS departments and counselors.