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Within six months I had adjusted to the Stanford suburban way of living, I began to establish myself as a member of the community, I started making new friends, and after a year I established California residency. I did well in school my first year, began a research project under Dr. Dement s supervision, and was formally accepted to continue study for the Ph.D. in Psychology. I had reached a plateau.

The first two years were, however, far from problem free. My first full-time housekeeper became ill and left the following April and the job of finding reliable live-in attendant help was difficult, at times impossible. By summer, I decided to split the job in two -- a daytime housekeeper-attendant and a live-in student aide/roommate. This proved a better, more stable and equitable arrangement but a more costly one. After my first year, money for living expenses and tuition was coming from the National Institutes of Health in the form of a Predoctoral Fellowship plus supplementation from my family. Recently, my family's share of the expenses has been further reduced by my applying for and receiving Aid to the Totally Disabled through the offices of the California State Department of Welfare. Other problems were solved in turn.

Now, in my third year of graduate school, about to complete my written qualifying exams, I stop to look at where I've been and to evaluate where I'm going. At Stanford, I have had rewarding experience teaching an undergraduate course and on the basis of this experience I will aim at a career in college teaching. I also plan to pursue research part-time in Psychology -- probably in my present area of interest, visual perception. I hope to remain on the West coast. A climate where heavy coats are not a necessity during half the year and snow rarely occurs to interfere with daily activities is near to ideal for someone in a wheelchair. Lastly, I would like to be married. I have been dating a Stanford student for the past year and marriage is a possibility, and one, I might add, beyond my expectations three years ago. We plan, though, to tread cautiously for a while yet. Questions of children (do we want them? can we care for them?) finances (college teachers are relatively underpaid), and emotional commitments have still to be carefully considered. I enter this new decade a quarter of a century old, ready to make my way single or otherwise, a pioneer in the '70's, aiming at independence.

Address: Hulme House, Apt. 1-B, Escondido Village, Stanford, California 94305.