UC Student Puts Disability Aside, Wins Highest Honors

When Julian C. Cummings was 2 years old, doctors thought he was mentally retarded because he had poor balance and trouble with motor skills.

“Obviously, they were wrong,” an elated Cummings said Tuesday at UC Berkeley, where he just learned he had won the University Medal, the school’s highest honor for graduating seniors.

The 22-year-old senior from Huntington Beach, who is described as “spirited and articulate” and “energetic” by university officials, is graduating with a 3.966 grade average with majors in physics and astronomy. Cummings, who has received numerous science and other achievement awards, will become a doctoral student in plasma physics at Princeton University. He also happens to be disabled.

The over-achiever was born a “gray baby,” a medical term for babies who suffer from a loss of oxygen in the womb. He developed scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, and suffered nerve damage throughout his body.

When he was young, he underwent ankle and back surgery to try to correct his condition. But mostly, he said, doctors did not know what to do for him.

Cummings, who gets around without the aid of a wheelchair or crutches, has difficulty with balance when he walks. And his condition, including arthritis, sometimes makes it painful to walk.

Still, he added, “I’ve gotten pretty good at walking long distances or charging up and down stairs with a big stack of books.”

Cummings said it was his parents who helped him to realize that his physical limitations didn’t have to limit him intellectually.

“I was never made to feel like I was a big burden on them,” he said.