"No limits" could easily be the phrase associated with New College alumna Cindy Gettinger, who graduated in 1990 with a degree in cognitive neuropsychology. For 13 years, Gettinger held the pro bono position of Manatee County coordinator for the Florida Special Olympics.
Gettinger knows about challenges. In 1981, while working as a paramedic, she was slammed against a wall by a patient and suffered injuries to her neck and spine. As a result, she is paralyzed below her shoulders. A few years later, she enrolled in college and began to swim. "Swimming was my freedom," she recalls. "Once in the water, I could really move." She swam her way to the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea, and returned with four gold medals. At one point, she held eight world records - four in swimming, two in track, and two in field events.
"One of the things that I learned through my education at New College is that the mentally handicapped have no more control over what happened to them than I do what happened to me," she says. "I was always treated just like any other person when I was there. I may be in a wheelchair, but that's my only limitation."
