OXNARD : Teacher Co-Writes Book on Disability

Wheelchair-bound since 1928 because of polio, Helynn Hoffa has accumulated a lifetime’s worth of practical tips on overcoming handicaps, including a childhood pep talk from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In conjunction with Oxnard College instructor Gary Morgan, the 70-year-old La Jolla woman has written a self-help book for the disabled covering everything from dating and independent living to education, careers and world travel.

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop commended the 309-page trade paperback, “Yes You Can,” for offering “extraordinary help for disabled people and those who care for them.”

Hoffa, who met Roosevelt at age 12 while undergoing therapy in Warm Springs, Ga., said he asked her what she wanted to be. “I shrugged and told him I wasn’t sure I could be anything.”

She said he told her: “Just remember this, if I can be in a wheelchair and be president of the greatest country in the world, you can do or be whatever you want to be.”

Hoffa, a onetime sportswriter, radio personality and art teacher, said she wrote the book with Morgan “to save other people the years I wasted while I floundered around not knowing how to work toward a goal.”

Nearly 36 million Americans suffer some form of disability, said Morgan, 47, an English and journalism instructor. He said many can benefit from such simple devices as an easy-to-grasp ball that arthritis victims can use to hold a pen for writing.

Morgan, who has also written three books on Colorado railroads and a volume of poetry, said he wrote the chapters in “Yes You Can” on employment, computers and legal rights and also compiled the appendix of addresses and phone numbers for assistance organizations, clubs and foundations.

Hoffa wrote the motivational chapters and practical tips, such as how to choose a personal care attendant and suitable housing arrangements. She said disabled people should not resign themselves to being crippled but should take advantage of every opportunity presented and every hand extended.

“Everyone of us has a Mt. Everest in our lives,” Hoffa said. “We all need a band of Sherpa guides to get there. No one stands atop Everest alone.”