University freshman Eli Ettinger sits with his hands in his lap, pondering his life experiences. The sunlight reflects off his silver sunglasses, making it difficult to see his eyes. He looks around campus and remains quiet for a while.
“It was a struggle overall,” he said. “But I just did everything I could to succeed.”
The 19-year-old from Beaverton was born with spina bifida, a permanently debilitating birth defect caused when the spine fails to close properly during the first month of pregnancy.
Ettinger said he has no sensation below his knee caps. For most of his life, he has used a lightweight titanium wheelchair that glides easily along the campus sidewalks. He leaves anyone walking around him in the dust.
And Ettinger doesn’t just leave walkers behind, he’s known to leave his wheelchair-using companions chasing after him as well.
Since high school, Ettinger has competed in wheelchair races, and he also lettered in track all four years at Sunset High School. Last year, during a high school state meet at a packed Hayward Field, he came in third place for the 400-meter race. He uses a three-wheel, aerodynamic chair when he races.
“It was the first time they had a wheelchair exhibition race there,” he said.
In April, he competed in the wheelchair state meet and came in second place in the 100, 200 and 400- meter races. He will head to Arizona this summer to compete in the national competition.
“It’s pretty competitive,” he said. “I was hoping maybe one day to start a team here at the U of O to be on the track team.”
Ettinger lifts weights and trains on the track about three times a week, and this summer he said he plans to swim six days a week.
“Gotta get ready for the big race,” he said.
Kevin Hansen, who was a track coach in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, first introduced Ettinger to wheelchair racing years ago. Hansen, who is the athletic director for World Wheelchair Sports in Eugene, said it’s important for people with disabilities to have opportunities to participate in athletics.
“Achieving athletic goals helps people realize their potential and possibilities,” he said.
Ettinger said when he raced the 400-meter at the XO invite at Hayward Field in May, he was 1.29 seconds off from qualifying for the Paralympics this year in Greece.
Ettinger’s mother Daria Ettinger, who came to see her son race at the invite, said he didn’t let his disappointment show when he missed the qualifying time. Instead, he kept a smile on his face as his excited mother snapped photos of him. It was only later that he mentioned what had been at stake.
“There goes Greece,” he quietly told his mother.
But Hansen said Ettinger has a good chance of making it to the 2008 Paralympics.
“He’s really a very, very gifted sprinter,” he said.
The sports scene is one of the reasons Ettinger chose to attend the University of Oregon instead of Oregon State University.
“(Oregon) had more of what I wanted,” he said.
Even though OSU offered him a diversity scholarship and Oregon didn’t, Ettinger said he wanted a liberal arts education because he hates math. He struggles with the subject because of his learning disabilities, which are a result of his condition. He said he is more of a visual learner and sometimes has difficulties taking lecture notes in class, which is why he said he appreciates University Disability Service’s support. Through the department, he can have notes taken for him and have test-taking times extended.
“The disabilities office is very helpful and open to things that I need,” he said.
Ettinger’s mother said her son’s first year of college has been difficult for his family, especially his younger sister Olivia, who has always looked up to her big brother.
“When he went off to college, she was devastated,” Daria Ettinger said. “This whole year has been kind of tender.”
She said the family has always worried about her son — who had undergone 14 surgeries by the time he was 14 years old — and his future. But now she is happy to see him on his own, her only stipulation being that he stay in Oregon.
“He’s making his choices and deciding on his path,” she said.
Ettinger said he is grateful for the support he has received throughout his life.
“I was just always surrounded by people who were always behind me and supported me,” he said.
Ettinger chose to study sociology his first year in school, but now is considering a switch to the family and human services program in the College of Education. Someday, he said he hopes to work with other people with disabilities.
“I could teach and also learn from people’s experiences,” he said.
He said many people, whether or not they are disabled, tend to think people with disabilities “can only do so much.” He said the ability to participate in sports can change misconceptions people have about those with disabilities.
“They just think they’re not active and they can’t do anything because they’re paralyzed, and that’s not true,” he said. “I’ve always been pretty active. I always knew that the possibilities were endless.”