They Get Around Problems : Mentally Handicapped Couple Make Life Work

Except for one thing, Greg and Karen Wojcik would be like most young couples.

They work hard to make their mortgage and car payments. They pitch in to do the housework. They gossip with the neighbors and lend them a hand when needed. They drive to the beach on weekends.

Except for one thing, they would be like many other young people who went to school together and grew up to fall in love and marry.

The one thing is that Greg and Karen Wojcik were born with mental retardation.

Despite the handicap, Greg, 28, hopes to return to school so he can improve his job skills, and Karen, 27, longs to be a mother.

Thanks to new teaching methods and devices, mild retardation is increasingly viewed by experts on the handicapped as any other physical or mental dysfunction: There are ways of working around the handicap.

Shop Without Reading

The Wojciks have learned to shop for groceries without knowing how to read.

Pictures and color coding of major food groups are used in a special supermarket guide that the Wojciks mastered at the Independent Living Center, a two-year school in San Jose for the mildly retarded. They have to rely on memory, and experts say mentally retarded people have exceptionally keen memories.

Retardation can be caused genetically or by damage to the brain at birth or in an accident. It can range from borderline--an IQ from 70 to 85--to severe--and IQ of 25 or less. Mildly retarded people have IQs from 55 to 70, compared with an average IQ of 100.

In supermarkets and other public places, Greg’s handicap is barely perceptible. Karen’s is more noticeable.

They enjoy exchanging smiles with fellow shoppers. But they get upset when people stare.

“When I go to Safeway, I feel people are looking at me, but I try to ignore it,” Karen said.

Proud of Manners

Greg complains of shoppers who are rude in other ways.

“Quite a few people don’t say ‘excuse me,’ and I’ll move over. I’ll let them get by,” said Greg, who is proud of his good manners.

It takes Greg and Karen longer to look at a can of vegetables because they can’t read what’s on the label.

“I can’t read at all,” said Greg, a janitor for the City of San Jose. “But I’ll get the Wednesday papers out of the machine and go through the food ads to see what’s on sale. The pictures help.”

Greg and Karen went to Markham Junior High and Willow Glen and Lincoln high schools in San Jose and then to the learning center, where they learned to function as non-readers.

“They learned us how to cook and write out a grocery list and helped us with our checking account,” Greg said. “I know how to write out a check. I just don’t know how to balance it. Karen’s mom does that.”

Passed Driving Test

Greg passed his driver’s license test by listening to questions on a tape recording and putting a mark on a sheet of paper for a yes or no answer. Karen won’t learn to drive because she’s fearful of becoming confused by the test, although Greg assures her she can pass it.

His greatest achievement, however, is just “learning to live on my own,” Greg said.

“I’ve been doing it for four years,” he said.

Karen said she is proudest of “shopping and doing laundry and being able to cook and little more. Sometimes Greg helps me or my grandma or the neighbor will help me.”

Greg’s checks are used to make $180 monthly payments on a 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and to pay Karen’s parents $300 a month for their mobile home. Her parents subsidize them by paying the $288 rent for a space at their mobile home park.

“When I pay them off what they paid for this mobile home, then it will all be in my hands,” Greg said.

While parental help is minimal, it is crucial, and Greg and Karen hope for total independence.

Seek Complete Independence

“I would like to try it without no help,” Greg said. “To live independently the rest of my life, that’s what we’re shooting for.”

“Yeah,” Karen said. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”

Greg and Karen say their lives are happy, except for one thing: They want a baby.

“I can’t have children,” Karen said.

Greg says they’d like to adopt.

“Karen loves kids. She’s really good with kids and really happy with them,” he adds.

Karen began to cry softly as Greg continued: “We want to get on a list to adopt, but nobody wants to help us out.”