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By Mark Schlachtenhaufen
Staff Writer for Capitol News Now
(Reprinted with permission)

(OK) Bill Austin may be confined to a wheelchair, but the wheelchair has not confined Bill Austin.

When he was five years old, Austin was in the family living room watching a Walt Disney production of Daniel Boone. After the program was over, Austin tried to stand up, but he couldn’t. Later, he was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth muscular dystrophy (MD), a neuromuscular disorder that causes degeneration of the peripheral nerves leading to muscle weakness in the body’s extremities.

Generally, this type of MD usually progresses quite slowly. It is almost never life threatening and it seldom affects the heart and breathing functions. But that wasn’t so for Austin.

Grim prognosis

Austin’s breathing is impaired. And doctors told his parents their son likely would not live to see his 18th birthday. The prognosis was the same for Austin’s sister, Anita, who also had the same type of MD. Austin’s younger brother, Carl, does not have the disease and is able-bodied.

Austin’s mother, who herself was adopted, was a homemaker devoted to caring for Carl and her two disabled children and to insulating them from their alcoholic father, who served in the Air Force during World War II in the Pacific Theater. Austin’s father died from cancer in 1973. His sister Anita died from a heart attack in 1992. His mother died from Alzheimer’s in 1994.

For some time, Austin was fully dexterous, largely self-sufficient and he was able to do most everyday tasks like eating by himself. He lost the ability to use his left hand by 1980. Then in 1986 or 1987, he lost the ability to use his right hand, to brush his teeth, to feed himself.

Now Austin is limited to 2 percent functional mobility in his right hand. And because of the way his MD affects his breathing – the left side of his diaphragm is paralyzed and his left lung is one half to one third the size of his right lung – he must undergo breathing treatments four times a day. He also sleeps at night with a BiPAP respiratory support system.

(Bill Austin poses with his “mouth wand”, a device to aid in typing for people with limited hand mobility.)

Mind over matter

At about the same time his dexterity decreased, in the mid 1980s, Austin was riding in a van through a residential neighborhood in Guthrie when he spotted some activity in one of the yards, where a group of karate students were training. Austin, wheelchair bound since he was five years old, approached Sensei David Perez and asked him if he could watch. Austin did so for a few weeks.

One day, Perez, a former Navy Seal, said he wanted to teach Austin. In addition to promoting physical fitness, karate helps students learn to relax and calm their bodies, develop strong mind-body connections and enhance mental calmness. Karate students also tend to exhibit increased self-esteem, attain goals and develop self-awareness.

It was the mental side of karate that Austin would learn and master as well as any able-bodied student. As students pass through the ranks taking grading examinations they are awarded colored belts. The standard color system progresses, along with the degree of difficulty, from white to yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and black. In 1990, Austin earned his first-degree black belt. In November 1990, he was awarded his second-and third-degree black belt.
In his spare time, Austin taught martial arts to youth and he did some studious reading. One day he came across a quote by Don Juan who in The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge said, “For me, there is only traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking, breathlessly.”

Don Juan, a brujo of the Yaqui Indians of Sonoro, Mexico, also talks about how when a man realizes he has taken a path without heart, it is then that the path is ready to kill him, a point at which few can choose to leave the path. The idea inspired Austin, who was learning how to use karate’s mind-body teachings to manage life’s difficulties.

“I knew if I didn’t have heart, it could cause problems on both sides,” he said. “I have always believed the mental can overcome the physical.”

Austin said another aspect of his life in addition to the efforts of his mother and the philosophies of karate helped him reach age 57 – religion. Austin said he wouldn’t be where he is today without the influence of Jesus Christ in his life.

“Without him on my ‘front bumper,’ I wouldn’t have made it this far,” he said. “With the Lord, nothing is impossible.”

Heart of a linebacker

Austin grew up in the Dallas area, and while he wasn’t able to play football, he was able to compile stats for the team and for school teams in other sports. At a time when he could still write, he would be on the sidelines during football games while someone else signaled information to him. In other sports, he visually collected the statistics himself.
Austin said what he learned from the different sports – the teamwork, the dedication – helped him later in life.

“I parlayed it into my psyche,” Austin said. “Of course, like everyone else I have moments of depression. But I don’t focus on it.”

Austin, who lives in Perry, said he is a huge fan of the University of Oklahoma’s football team and their head coach, Bob Stoops. Austin said he got to hear Stoops deliver a speech once and he could tell from the way the coach talked that the two are simpatico. Austin said he has the mentality of a linebacker.

“He’s a jock and I’m a jock,” said Austin.

Austin said one of his dreams is to meet coach Stoops.

“A good example”

Austin makes adaily63-milecommute with his wife, Debra, to the Oklahoma City office where the couple works for the Department of Rehabilitative Services.

Austin, who in 2000 graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a BS degree in accounting, is part of the agency’s federal accounting and reporting staff. His supervisor is Elaine Shetley, who said she had never worked with people who had visible disabilities before she joined the DRS; about 18 percent of the agency’s employees have some type of disability.

“Bill is an asset to our office,” Shetley said. “He’s good with detail, good to sticking with policies and regulations, and with meeting his deadlines.”

Austin said Shetley has been a great mentor. Shetley said Austin, himself a former DRS client, is very skilled in the use of technology to automate tasks and accomplish his work as efficiently as possible. For example, Austin created databases designed to use the fewest possible keystrokes to get the most information from the same data for several different reports.

“He uses his time at DRS just for work,” Shetley said. “He very seldom takes a break to relax. His breaks are for breathing treatments. He knows he can take a break, but in my opinion, he works so hard because he is thankful to have the job that he has and he wants to set a good example.”

At work, Austin uses a “mouth wand” to operate his 10-key and he uses voice recognition software, developed by NanoPac, a Tulsa company, with his computer. He has just enough use of his right hand to flop it up on his desk and manipulate a mouse and the joystick on his motorized wheelchair. On a previous computer, he typed homework using a wooden kitchen spoon.

Austin, employed by the agency since December 2000, said the best thing about having a job besides getting back into the workforce is being able to provide for his wife and their “children,” two dogs named “Stafford” and “Logan.” He views his being able to work with the same humility, the same thoughtfulness with which he views life.

“The paycheck just means that I’m another taxpaying citizen and I’ve accomplished a couple of goals in life,” Austin said. “The challenges I don’t take lightly.”

Austin said he hopes that his story, his take on life, inspires youth who might be struggling with their identity. He encouraged them to surround themselves with good, positive people, to keep a positive attitude themselves, and if they do, eventually good things will come to them.

“You’ve got to go through a little hell to get to heaven,” Austin said.

(Bill Austin has Charcot-Marie-Tooth MD, which leaves him confined to a wheelchair. However, he is able to work and is shown in the photo at the beginning of this article at his job with DRS.)