Someone to Look Up To : A Double Amputee Teaches Preschoolers Lesson in Life

Nobody was standing taller than Judy Richter as the school term ended Friday for one group of children in South-Central Los Angeles.

The 27-year-old East Los Angeles woman’s artwork decorated the walls and hung from the curtain above the auditorium stage at 66th Street School.

Down in front, two dozen preschoolers wore elephant ears, cardboard top hats, and bow ties made to fit by her. Out in the audience, about 60 parents and relatives clutched commencement invitations and programs that she had designed.

No wonder that before the children and the adults adjourned for pizza and punch, they clamored around the wheelchair to have their pictures taken with Richter.

A double amputee from the pelvis down, Richter spent the school year working as a volunteer classroom aide. And along the way, she ended up teaching a lesson to parents and teachers--as well as the children.

“I’m not ashamed of the way I look,” said Richter, who lost one leg at age 13 and the other four years later. “People may stare at first. But when they get to know me I look natural to them.”

Richter lost her limbs to a congenital disorder called atriovenous malformation. It is a rare disease that affects blood vessels and, in Richter’s case, caused infection in her legs, according to Dr. Jose Terz, one of her doctors.

“It was either amputation or not live,” said Richter. “It was not a choice.”

She spent a year in the hospital after the second surgery. A depressing 12 months followed that.

“For a year I just wanted to be in my house,” she remembers.

A therapist counseled her to use artificial legs so as not to attract attention in public. But Richter found the prostheses to be uncomfortable.

She enrolled in trade school and graduated with a certificate in architectural drawing. But when it came time to interview for jobs, Richter had difficulty traveling to them without a car.

She was living at the home of her mother, Maggie Richter, when she fell into her volunteer school work by accident two years ago.

Her sister, Martha Iniguez, was working as a preschool educational aide at 66th Street School and asked Richter if she could hurriedly do a flyer needed in the classroom the next day.

Her artwork was a hit and Iniguez brought her more rush projects. Finally, she cajoled Richter into accompanying her to the campus at 6600 S. San Pedro St. last fall.

“She was nervous coming the first time. There were no ramps here or anything,” recalled Iniguez, 30.

Others at the school, which has 1,169 children on a year-round schedule, were surprised to see her. Some worried what children and parents would think about someone with no legs.

“I didn’t know what to expect. But any preconceived ideas I had left me when I met her,” said Principal Carmen Garner.

Preschool teacher Norma Frazier, whom Richter assisted for three hours each school day this spring, agrees.

“At first you’re in instant shock--I’d never seen a person like that,” Frazier said. “I could tell right away she was self-sufficient. I just let the kids handle it.”

The children accepted Richter instantly. “They stare at first,” she said. “But after I play with them, they get used to the way I look. They accept me for what I am.”

When the more curious children asked Richter what happened to her legs, she sometimes turned her answer into a safety lesson instead of a complicated medical explanation: “You know how people can get hurt if they get hit by car? Remember, don’t play in the street,” she would say.

Soon, the children forgot that the smiling lady racing around the campus in the wheelchair had no legs.

“The kids never talked about her having a handicap,” confirmed Rosa Iniguez, whose 4-year-old daughter, Marina, attended the preschool class. “In fact, I was surprised the first time I saw her.”

Said parent Michele Samusick, whose son Victor also is in the class: “My son never said a word about it. She’s taught the children a valuable lesson--they won’t discriminate against people with handicaps when they get older.”

Richter helped Garner and Frazier present certificates to the 27 children against the backdrop of a 10-foot-wide banner decorated with cutout animals that Richter created for the event.

She laughed when she described how she assembled the colorful tiger, giraffe, elephant, crocodile and butterfly artwork on the floor.

“I scoot around on one of those boards that mechanics lie on under cars,” she said. “Sometimes I have to remind people to watch it, that I’m down here.”

That’s what happens when you’re accepted.