“Chasing Normality"

© 2008 Richard L. Wieler

The following excerpt describes an incident which occurred while Dick was a student at the State University of South Dakota. Like most universities at the time, it was not readily wheelchair accessible.

“One particular class was located in a building with a short flight of steps for entry. However, we couldn’t easily exit the same way because of the large number of students entering the building at that time and because those steps were slippery when wet. The best solution was to go down a longer inside set of stairs to another exit using two helpers. One grabbed the handles on the back of the wheelchair; the other grabbed the front foot pedals. Tipping the chair on its rear wheels, we rolled down the stairs one step at a time. Since I was facing forward, I had a clear view of the steepness of the descent and the area below. I could also see a large African elephant head mounted on the wall across from the stairs on the floor below.

The task of handling the front end of the wheelchair during the descent belonged to Ren Whitaker. Unlike the other helpers, Ren wasn’t recruited for the job, and he didn’t live at the house. I met him in a German class where he volunteered to push me to another class when my other helpers had class conflicts. That chance meeting led to friendship and, on one occasion, may have saved my life.

We were still very near the top of the stairs that day when the guy in the back slipped and released the wheelchair. Ren saw the slip and knew he couldn’t hold me in place. So, maintaining the balance on the rear wheels, he just started running backwards as fast as he could to keep me from tipping forward. I’ve heard it said that military veterans often refer to combat as ‘having seen the elephant.’ Without firing a shot, I saw the elephant that day; he was staring at me from his post on the wall as I was bouncing down the stairs. I wondered how long Ren could maintain his balance, how long the wheelchair could take that pounding, and what would happen to me if the answers to those questions were less than positive.

The wondering stopped swiftly when my other helper recovered and grabbed the wheelchair with one arm and the railing with the other. Somehow, Ren saw that coming too, and he was able to adjust to the sudden stop after being in freefall for three or four steps. As I remember, not a word was spoken during the entire event, just plenty of heavy breathing afterwards. Two days later, we were back on those stairs; class was still on.”

Richard L. Wieler’s memoir, “Chasing Normality,” was written with Maureen O’Halloran Clark.

To read more about his book Click Here.