Legacy

GARRETT GALJOUR

“I don’t think it affects anything,” Garrett Galjour said about his cerebral palsy that has limited him to a wheelchair. “I don’t consider myself disabled. I don’t consider myself in this [wheelchair]. When people praise me or give me compliments … I’m just doing what anybody else would do.”

Galjour doesn’t like using the word “normal” and doesn’t feel his everyday activities are out of the ordinary.  Galjour, a mass communication senior, is a huge sports fan. He combines his love for athletics and the University by giving sports updates on KLSU 91.1 FM every week.

But Galjour’s love for sports doesn’t stop there. In fact, Galjour has been a Tiger fan since birth. He explained that he was born prematurely during an LSU football season, and his family decorated his incubator with LSU signs for every football game. As a child, Galjour remembers attending a few LSU games and now a season ticket holder.

Galjour said the Office of Student Disabilities is very accommodating to University students in need of assistance. He said OSD provides him with a note taker, a scribe and extended time for tests. But Galjour understands what it’s like when a school must modify itself to meet a student’s needs.

“I was the first student with a disability to graduate from [Baton Rouge Magnet High School],” Galjour said modestly.  “I didn’t know I was going to be the first.”

Galjour said no wheelchair-users had ever applied to BRHS before because the old – not up to code – building was daunting to those with special needs.  The school added ramps, widened doorways and made appropriate corrections for Galjour to attend.

Because of the corrections made for Galjour, other disabled students have since attended the school.

Galjour does not feel like he’s a pioneer or that he has broken any barriers, he simply treats his high school experience as anyone else would.

“My life, people say I am an inspiration and I am just taken aback,” Galjour said humbly.

He explained that he’s always happy to receive a compliment, but sometimes people don’t see past his wheelchair, praising his courage or making an incorrect assumption about his disability.

“I’m not paralyzed.  I can feel everything,” Galjour stated, lightly slapping his thigh.  He explained that cerebral palsy affects motor skills and muscle tightness.   He said that despite his legs being tight, he can sometimes use a special walker instead of a wheelchair.

Galjour, though he may make joke about it, has had many accomplishments, and he attributes that to his outlook on life.  He feels that the only thing standing in the way of a disabled person is their attitude.

“If I talk to somebody and present myself well I can get people to look past the chair,” Galjour said. “Basically if a person who has a disability focuses on the disability, I think it is going to hinder them more than [the disability] is.”

JESSICA GREENFIELD

Ozzie can turn on lights, open doors, assist with laundry and nimbly pick up small objects off the ground.  Ozzie is Jessica Greenfield’s English Labrador.

“I just think [Ozzie] is my shadow… He’s the best companion anyone could ever ask for,” Greenfield said.

Ozzie is a devoted friend to Greenfield. But, she was originally reluctant to request him.

“I am completely independent … I always had an impression that service dogs were for people that needed an aide,” Greenfield said.

Greenfield, mass communication senior, is paralyzed from the bra-line down and held this belief until she began to travel alone across the country for treatment. Staying in hotels from Miami to the Mayo clinic made Greenfield lonely and simple tasks difficult.

After discussing it with her family, Greenfield decided that perhaps she could use a companion.  Greenfield, an Indiana native, applied and received a service dog through Indiana Canine Assistance Network.

Though Ozzie is a big help with daily tasks, a lot of Greenfield’s success comes from hard work and shear will.

Greenfield’s paralysis was caused by a dry-land diving accident.  She said that her spinal cord injury occurred about five years ago while doing some above ground training, similar to gymnastics, for her diving team.

“I think I was so naïve at first… I was so optimistic.  Honestly, a lot of therapists thought I was in denial.  But I had such a strong support system, I knew I could walk,” Greenfield said about life just after the accident.

Today, Greenfield has learned to walk with a forearm cane through various therapies and treatments. Her feet drag when she walks, and is unable to climb stairs or trek long distances, but she still feels that her walking – without feeling – is “pretty darn good.”

Greenfield has come a long way since her injury, and even farther from her home in Indiana.

When Greenfield started college in 2005, wheelchair accessibility limited her when it came to picking a school.  She originally planned to attend Indiana University, but the school couldn’t facilitate her needs as a wheelchair-user.  Greenfield attended the smaller University of Southern Indiana as they could better accommodate her.

A visit to LSU caused Greenfield to switch schools after two years at USI.

“I fell in love with the people [at LSU],” Greenfield said enthusiastically.

She also commented on how she was initially impressed with the size of the university and the school’s accessibility.

“LSU has some hills and terrain issues … But, not nearly what you would find in other parts of the country,” Cornwell said when referring to how LSU’s primarily flat campus contributes to accessibility.

“LSU is fairly good for a big school,” Greenfield said on campus access.

Her complaints were mainly that the Union and the basement testing center of Himes Hall were “absolutely terrible” for students in wheelchairs.

“I do think that even though a lot of LSU is not accessible, DS really accommodates … You have an advocate for you,” Greenfield said.

DS allows Greenfield to schedule her classes in advance so they can move them to the most operative buildings, take exams in a testing center, a note taker and consideration of absences because of her traveling.

Greenfield is very active.  She plays in a wheelchair tennis league, wrote for The Daily Reveille and is a Delta Zeta sorority sister.  She joked that Ozzie is the “sorority mascot.”

Even with all of her achievements, Greenfield still faces complications from her disability.  She explained that as a paralyzed person, her body has the ability to let her know when there is a problem in an area she cannot feel.  That is how she realized when she recently tore a ligament in her ankle.

She began suffering from dysreflexia, feeling nauseous with a severe headache.  Her body was telling her there was something wrong.  Greenfield is currently being treated by a doctor in Baltimore for this injury and is contemplating various surgeries.

“There are some days I feel frustrated.  I wish I could feel the sand between my toes…  When I’m late for class and I come with my crutch, backpack and dog.  I can’t exactly sneak in,” Greenfield said, laughing slightly at the end of her statement.  “My sororities been really great.   I’m surrounded by really great people, and that makes a difference… I am so incredibly fortunate.”

Photos by Maggie Bowles