Ertl Amp Teacher using 'differently-abled' life as learning tool
Tony Barr
Description
Collection
Title:
Ertl Amp Teacher using 'differently-abled' life as learning tool
Creator:
Tony Barr
Date:
1/5/2006
Text:
Macon, Georgia / Local Newspaper /The Telegraph features Ertl amputee
Read story below and on links <URL Redacted>
and www.ertlreconstruction.com
Tony Barr
Barr Foundation
www.oandp.com/barr
Teacher using 'differently-abled' life as learning tool
By Julie Hubbard
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
On June 3, 2003, doctors cut off AJ Johnson's left ankle and foot.
She'd asked them to.
For six years, they caused her so much pain that she learned to cook and
wash dishes on her knees. She spent much of her day in a wheelchair, and she
couldn't bounce around her second-grade classroom with her students like she
longed to.
Until that June day.
Losing part of her leg and becoming an amputee, she says, actually gave her
her life back.
I woke up with a smile, she said.
Now the 29-year-old Springdale Elementary School teacher has a prosthesis.
It's attached to a plastic purple cover with designs of black spiders. Her
students call it her robotic leg.
With it, she now jogs and zips around her classroom. She even takes off the
prosthetic device and shows it to her students so they'll understand how it
works.
This summer, she's scheduled to bicycle across the country along with a few
other amputees, making stops at hospitals and clinics, sharing her
inspirational story with others who are dealing with tragedy.
Johnson's story starts when she was 17.
She was in a car wreck in which her ankles were shattered.
She was driving her Pontiac Grand Am on loose gravel down an Alabama road,
headed to high school, when the car fishtailed and hit a telephone pole,
then rolled and careened down an embankment.
The accident left Johnson hanging upside down in the car.
The car crumpled so badly that her ankles were trapped in a tiny space
between the gas pedal and steering wheel.
They were like dust, pulverized, she said.
When she got out of the hospital weeks later, she had casts on both legs.
She was in and out of rehabilitation, with one surgery after another, with
doctors especially trying to repair her left ankle.
Despite the challenge, she managed to graduate and entered Mississippi State
University to get her teaching degree. Eventually, she even played rugby,
softball and swam again.
As time passed, though, the pain in her left ankle intensified.
I could do (sports) less and less, she said. It hurt so bad.
MISSED THE ACTIVITY
At age 22, she was pretty much confined to a wheelchair. She moved to Macon
after accepting a teaching job at Springdale.
Judy Fountain, another second-grade teacher at Springdale, knew Johnson
before and after she lost part of her leg.
All she could do was come to work, Fountain said. She was in pain. She
missed the physical activities, rugby, softball.
Her ankle hurt so much, she couldn't do a lot of everyday things, Fountain
said.
That's when Johnson asked doctors to remove her ankle. They found that she
had a bone infection that never would have healed completely.
I couldn't believe what I was missing, she said. Life doesn't stop
because something happens. You can find a way to go on.
And that's what she did.
She uses her differently-abled life, as she calls it, to teach her
students about people with disabilities.
When first-graders enter the second grade, she pulls them aside, takes off
her prosthesis and tells them her story.
They look at it, sniff it, poke it, she said. It satisfies their
curiosity.
She often swaps out her plastic leg coverings with the seasons. Her
prosthetician has even fitted her for a new leg during class time.
I think it's kinda neat, said 7-year-old student Krisa Forehand. I don't
really know anyone who has those kinda legs.
Earlier this month, Johnson was asked to ride with three other amputees from
other states to participate in Amputees Across America. The trip, partly
sponsored by the Alabama Amputee Support Group, has been held four years in
a row.
This summer, the riders will start in California and end in Florida, said
Joe Sapere, the ride founder and organizer - and an amputee.
It's an outreach program more than a bicycle trip, Sapere said. Riders
act as role models for others with physical challenges. AJ is going to be an
ambassador for amputees.
But Johnson doesn't have to leave town to be an inspiration to others, those
who know her say.
I wouldn't try to ride a bicycle across the United States, Springdale
principal Karen Yarbrough said. But she's an exceptional person. She wants
to prove to others faced with the same challenges that life can be normal,
despite having a life with disabilities.
***
HOW TO HELP
AJ Johnson, a Springdale Elementary School teacher and amputee, needs a
sponsor for her Amputees Across America bicycle trip this summer. She'll be
riding from California to Florida, stopping along the way at hospitals and
medical clinics to talk to others with physical disabilities.
Amputees Across America pays for lodging, but Johnson needs a road bike,
helmet, sunglasses and gear. Donors will be listed on the Amputees Across
America Web site as a sponsor.
Anyone interested can call Johnson at Springdale Elementary, (478) 471-5419,
or
e-mail ajjohnson.springdale.
.
Read story below and on links <URL Redacted>
and www.ertlreconstruction.com
Tony Barr
Barr Foundation
www.oandp.com/barr
Teacher using 'differently-abled' life as learning tool
By Julie Hubbard
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
On June 3, 2003, doctors cut off AJ Johnson's left ankle and foot.
She'd asked them to.
For six years, they caused her so much pain that she learned to cook and
wash dishes on her knees. She spent much of her day in a wheelchair, and she
couldn't bounce around her second-grade classroom with her students like she
longed to.
Until that June day.
Losing part of her leg and becoming an amputee, she says, actually gave her
her life back.
I woke up with a smile, she said.
Now the 29-year-old Springdale Elementary School teacher has a prosthesis.
It's attached to a plastic purple cover with designs of black spiders. Her
students call it her robotic leg.
With it, she now jogs and zips around her classroom. She even takes off the
prosthetic device and shows it to her students so they'll understand how it
works.
This summer, she's scheduled to bicycle across the country along with a few
other amputees, making stops at hospitals and clinics, sharing her
inspirational story with others who are dealing with tragedy.
Johnson's story starts when she was 17.
She was in a car wreck in which her ankles were shattered.
She was driving her Pontiac Grand Am on loose gravel down an Alabama road,
headed to high school, when the car fishtailed and hit a telephone pole,
then rolled and careened down an embankment.
The accident left Johnson hanging upside down in the car.
The car crumpled so badly that her ankles were trapped in a tiny space
between the gas pedal and steering wheel.
They were like dust, pulverized, she said.
When she got out of the hospital weeks later, she had casts on both legs.
She was in and out of rehabilitation, with one surgery after another, with
doctors especially trying to repair her left ankle.
Despite the challenge, she managed to graduate and entered Mississippi State
University to get her teaching degree. Eventually, she even played rugby,
softball and swam again.
As time passed, though, the pain in her left ankle intensified.
I could do (sports) less and less, she said. It hurt so bad.
MISSED THE ACTIVITY
At age 22, she was pretty much confined to a wheelchair. She moved to Macon
after accepting a teaching job at Springdale.
Judy Fountain, another second-grade teacher at Springdale, knew Johnson
before and after she lost part of her leg.
All she could do was come to work, Fountain said. She was in pain. She
missed the physical activities, rugby, softball.
Her ankle hurt so much, she couldn't do a lot of everyday things, Fountain
said.
That's when Johnson asked doctors to remove her ankle. They found that she
had a bone infection that never would have healed completely.
I couldn't believe what I was missing, she said. Life doesn't stop
because something happens. You can find a way to go on.
And that's what she did.
She uses her differently-abled life, as she calls it, to teach her
students about people with disabilities.
When first-graders enter the second grade, she pulls them aside, takes off
her prosthesis and tells them her story.
They look at it, sniff it, poke it, she said. It satisfies their
curiosity.
She often swaps out her plastic leg coverings with the seasons. Her
prosthetician has even fitted her for a new leg during class time.
I think it's kinda neat, said 7-year-old student Krisa Forehand. I don't
really know anyone who has those kinda legs.
Earlier this month, Johnson was asked to ride with three other amputees from
other states to participate in Amputees Across America. The trip, partly
sponsored by the Alabama Amputee Support Group, has been held four years in
a row.
This summer, the riders will start in California and end in Florida, said
Joe Sapere, the ride founder and organizer - and an amputee.
It's an outreach program more than a bicycle trip, Sapere said. Riders
act as role models for others with physical challenges. AJ is going to be an
ambassador for amputees.
But Johnson doesn't have to leave town to be an inspiration to others, those
who know her say.
I wouldn't try to ride a bicycle across the United States, Springdale
principal Karen Yarbrough said. But she's an exceptional person. She wants
to prove to others faced with the same challenges that life can be normal,
despite having a life with disabilities.
***
HOW TO HELP
AJ Johnson, a Springdale Elementary School teacher and amputee, needs a
sponsor for her Amputees Across America bicycle trip this summer. She'll be
riding from California to Florida, stopping along the way at hospitals and
medical clinics to talk to others with physical disabilities.
Amputees Across America pays for lodging, but Johnson needs a road bike,
helmet, sunglasses and gear. Donors will be listed on the Amputees Across
America Web site as a sponsor.
Anyone interested can call Johnson at Springdale Elementary, (478) 471-5419,
or
e-mail ajjohnson.springdale.
.
Citation
Tony Barr, “Ertl Amp Teacher using 'differently-abled' life as learning tool,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/225974.
