LOCAL MAN HITS THE ROAD AFTER 49 YEARS

In his office at Scully Hall at SEMO, Ralph Ruehling supervises the computer lab.

A special ignition key adapter has been added to Ralph Ruehling's car to make turning the key easier.

Most 15-year-olds can't wait to turn 16 so they can get their drivers license and begin the ritual of cruising. Ralph Ruehling of Jackson had to wait until he was 49 to drive, and although he may do a little cruising, he's happy just being able to drive to and from work.

Ruehling was born with cerebral palsy, and ever since he was denied a drivers license at the age of 19, he thought driving a car was something he'd likely never do.

Tuesday morning, Ruehling will walk out of his house and get into a car bound for Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau where he's worked the past 13 years. What makes this Tuesday different than past Tuesdays is the car will be his own and he'll be behind the wheel.

"I won't be a passenger anymore, I'll be the driver," said Ruehling, smiling. "Being handicapped doesn't mean a person can't live a normal life ... I never give up."

Ruehling is supervisor of the computer lab in Scully Hall at SEMO. He assists faculty in ordering books and films; he assigns advisers to graduate students for the Department of Elementary and Special Education; he talks to classes about being physically handicapped.

The next class he talks to may learn how he overcame doubt and uncertainty and passed the written and driving tests to obtain his drivers license, a little card most people take for granted.

"When I was born my parents were told I had cerebral palsy," said Ruehling, fingering a set of car keys to his 1991 Buick Century. "They had never heard of it. They were also told I had a very slim chance of living."

Ruehling said a doctor told his parents there was a new drug that would either help him "or put me to sleep." The drug helped him. He says he'll never know the name of the drug, but does know his parents' prayers and faith in God also played a big part in his survival.

As a child Ruehling, who was born in Cape Girardeau, was quite aware of things that moved better than he did, things such as cars. His parents didn't think he'd even be able to walk -- he kept falling down.

When the weather was nice they'd take him outside on the grass so he wouldn't fall so hard, "but I was determined that someday I would walk." When he was 4, he started walking.

Ruehling spent the next several years in physical therapy. He started school when he was 7.

"They didn't know if I could go to school or not. Schools weren't equipped to handle handicapped students as they are now. I was told I wouldn't make it past the sixth grade."

Ruehling not only made it past the sixth grade, he graduated from Jackson High School in 1964. He remembers the principal let him leaves classes five minutes early "so I could get to my other classes without getting run over."

In high school he went to all the ball games; he went to dances and proms and he sang in Glee Club concerts.

After high school he found that jobs were scarce -- at least for him. He worked at VIP Industries for nine years, where most employees were mentally retarded. He wasn't.

Twelve years out of high school, and looking for a better job, he entered Cape Business School and graduated in 1978 with a major in accounting.

In 1981 he started work at SEMO's college of education. Six years later he received a Dedicated Service award, and he was the only the second non-faculty employee to be so honored. "It was a nice surprise," he recalled.

During all his years of employment, Ruehling had to depend on others for transportation. He tried to get a drivers license when he was 19, but he failed the written test by one answer. It would be 30 years before he would try again.

Cheryl Reinagel has been Ruehling's friend for many years. They met at the church they both attend, St. Paul Lutheran in Jackson.

It was Reinagel, not long ago, who persuaded Ruehling to try for a drivers license again.

"His mother had called me right before school (SEMO) started and asked if I could give Ralph a ride to work ... we both live in Jackson and work in Cape," Reinagel said.

"She had asked four other people to drive him but they couldn't. So we started riding together and one day I asked him if he ever thought about driving himself. He said he tried to get a license once and would like to try again."

Reinagel put him in contact with Phil Wagner of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in Cape Girardeau.

"He (Ruehling) came to me as a vehicle for him to learn how to drive," Wagner recalled. "He had limitations and I envisioned all kinds of adaptive controls" that would be needed on a car. It turned out, however, that only one adaptive control was needed.

Wagner put Ruehling in contact with the drivers training program at Cape Girardeau Vocational Technical School.

"I had six lessons," said Ruehling, "and I had already taken and passed the written test."

The lessons were twice a week and lasted three weeks. He drove a Pontiac Grand Am around town -- up and down Kingshighway, Broadway, Main, through the middle of everything.

The next stop was the license bureau in Jackson where driving tests are administered. Ruehling got behind the wheel of his Buick and, with a state Department of Transportation official in the passenger seat, he took the test he had dreaded for 30 years -- and he passed.

"I turned the car around corners, I parked it in small places, I operated the blinkers and the wipers ... I passed," he said, a smile spreading across his face.

Reinagel said a bit of bureaucracy was involved before the test was taken.

She said insurance companies were saying his insurance rates would be high because he was a first-time driver, and they were saying they'd need a statement from a neurologist saying he could physically operate a vehicle.

The statement was obtained, insurance was bought and Ruehling bought the car -- then took the driving test.

"I thought I'd pass ... you have to be determined," he said.

The Buick needed but one modification. Ruehling, who is left-handed, has a right hand that is not strong enough to turn the key in the ignition. A special ignition assist was required.

Alfred Limbaugh of Jackson fitted a gadget to the ignition to better facilitate turning the key.

"He was so nice," said Reinagel, "He had it made. Ralph couldn't take the driving test if he couldn't start the car."

Ruehling is now licensed, and he's proud of his gold-colored car. On Tuesday the congested parking lots at SEMO will have to make room for one more car -- and for a driver who's waited a long time to have a parking space.