Luticha Doucette is a scientist. She is a student, an athlete, an activist, and an advocate. She fences, races, canoes and volunteers.
She was also Ms. Wheelchair NY in 2011.
When she was just under 2 years old, Doucette, now 29, was hurt in a car accident that left her with a brain injury and incomplete quadriplegia.
She certainly hasn’t let that slow her down. After moving to Henrietta from California when she was 10 years old, Doucette took up canoeing, fencing and racing with the Rochester Rookies through SportsNet and the Al Sigl Center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012 and is holding a series of events showcasing and celebrating the abilities of the disabled this week through Jan. 14.
In an interview at Lovin’ Cup near the Rochester Institute of Technology campus where she studies bioinformatics, Doucette, who showed up smiling with starry Christmas lights strung through her chair’s wheels, talked about her love of sword fighting, participating in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant, climbing a volcano, giving back to the community, and more.
“I just want to see it all and touch it all and experience it all,” Doucette said. “I love life.”
Q: Do you think being injured at such a young age had an effect on your current outlook on life?
A: I think when you're injured when you're younger, you adjust better. I mentor a lot of adults will spinal cord injuries, and they don't always recover mentally.
Being disabled is not all fun and games, and a lot of times it ain’t pretty. You have to have a mental toughness, and most people don't. They tend to crumble and can be severely depressed and angry because they've lost something. When you're a kid, you don't realize that you've lost something. This has been my life. It's all that I know. This is normal.
Q: You’ve volunteered at several Al Sigl events throughout the year. Why is that important to you?
A: I've been involved with SportsNet doing not just the outrigger canoe and fencing, but they’ve done biking clinics and driver training programs. The reason I can drive today is because of Al Sigl through Rochester Rehab. Anything they ask me to do I say "sure."
Saying thank you is great, but actually giving back says more. It shows to donors and the people who work there that their investment was worthwhile and that something came out of it. A lot of times people invest in others and don't get to see what happens in their lives. Volunteering is my way of saying "Hey, you helped me get to where I am today."
Luticha Doucette is a scientist. She is a student, an athlete, an activist, and an advocate. She fences, races, canoes and volunteers.
She was also Ms. Wheelchair NY in 2011.
When she was just under 2 years old, Doucette, now 29, was hurt in a car accident that left her with a brain injury and incomplete quadriplegia.
She certainly hasn’t let that slow her down. After moving to Henrietta from California when she was 10 years old, Doucette took up canoeing, fencing and racing with the Rochester Rookies through SportsNet and the Al Sigl Center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012 and is holding a series of events showcasing and celebrating the abilities of the disabled this week through Jan. 14.
In an interview at Lovin’ Cup near the Rochester Institute of Technology campus where she studies bioinformatics, Doucette, who showed up smiling with starry Christmas lights strung through her chair’s wheels, talked about her love of sword fighting, participating in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant, climbing a volcano, giving back to the community, and more.
“I just want to see it all and touch it all and experience it all,” Doucette said. “I love life.”
Q: Do you think being injured at such a young age had an effect on your current outlook on life?
A: I think when you're injured when you're younger, you adjust better. I mentor a lot of adults will spinal cord injuries, and they don't always recover mentally.
Being disabled is not all fun and games, and a lot of times it ain’t pretty. You have to have a mental toughness, and most people don't. They tend to crumble and can be severely depressed and angry because they've lost something. When you're a kid, you don't realize that you've lost something. This has been my life. It's all that I know. This is normal.
Q: You’ve volunteered at several Al Sigl events throughout the year. Why is that important to you?
A: I've been involved with SportsNet doing not just the outrigger canoe and fencing, but they’ve done biking clinics and driver training programs. The reason I can drive today is because of Al Sigl through Rochester Rehab. Anything they ask me to do I say "sure."
Saying thank you is great, but actually giving back says more. It shows to donors and the people who work there that their investment was worthwhile and that something came out of it. A lot of times people invest in others and don't get to see what happens in their lives. Volunteering is my way of saying "Hey, you helped me get to where I am today."
Q: How did you get into canoeing?
A: I was kind of a pioneer. The lady who developed this outrigger canoeing for people with disabilities, Jan Whitaker, needed some guinea pigs and heard about me and asked if I wanted to go in the water. I said no, because I hate getting wet. I'm like a cat.
I got on the boat anyway, and it was the most fun I'd ever had. It was something different. The premise of outrigger canoe is that everyone is literally in the same boat. You can't tell who's disabled and who's not disabled. You're all working towards a common goal and doesn't matter who's disabled and who's not because everyone is capable of reaching that goal. It's a metaphor for how things should be in life.
It's now a paralympic sport. It's going to be in the 2016 Olympics, and I was one of the first people to do it. It's pretty cool.
Q: And how did canoeing lead to fencing?
A: I've been fencing since September of 2011. It's been more rewarding than wheelchair racing. One: I'm really lazy and I don't like getting out of my wheelchair, and I don't have to in order to fence. Two: It's swords, and swords are amazing. I've always wanted to learn how to fight in that way. Plus, it's not mindless. In racing, you just have to clear your mind and go for the goal as fast as you can. In fencing, you have to think about strategy and outwitting your opponent. It involves your brain in a different way, and it forces me to move in ways I've never moved before.
As a quadriplegic, people don't expect you to bend and move and weave and have fine motor control. I've noticed my reflexes are better now. I have more abdominal strength. It's a whole-body workout that I never thought was possible. And you get to hit people. With the aggravation I've been having with school and whatnot, it's good to let that out and beat up my coach.
Q: Where does your interest in science come in?
A: I've always been a nerd. When I was injured in 1985, there was no (Americans with Disabilities Act). The only places that were accessible were public libraries and government buildings. My mom would put me in our Radio Flyer wagon, holding my brother's hand, and walk two miles to the library. I loved reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica, but I was always upset you couldn't take them home with you.
We were allowed 24 books. I got 19, my brother would get the rest, and my mom might get one. Two days later I had read all the books.
Q: Did that factor into your Ms. Wheelchair NY 2011 win?
A: I got involved because the previous Ms. Wheelchair, 2010, came to the National Spinal Chord Injury Association banquet and she was trying to convince some of the ladies to go and do the next one. It's not a tiara-wearing crowd, and they just said "absolutely not."
I was such a tomboy. No makeup. No nail polish. No jewelry. Wearing floral? No. That was never me. Pink? Get out of here. And everybody said "Luticha will do it."
Finally my friend Eliza said, "You're the person who always wants to do something new and different. Isn't this something new and different that you've never done before? Just go for it."
So we drove to Albany. I did not have a speech prepared, so I said: "I'm Luticha. I'm a scientist. I love to blow things up, and I think all people with disabilities should have the opportunity to study science, because it's a field where your disability doesn't matter, it's a guaranteed job after college, you make lots of money, and it's fun. Vote for me." Apparently they did.
I won, which was crazy, and I got a tiara.
The lady who runs the pageant said they never had a girl like me and that I was chosen because I was so unique and true to myself, but they were scared about how that would translate at the national pageant. How do you stay true to yourself and represent a brand? That's what you're doing when you become a title-holder.
I went to nationals. It was one of the best weeks of my life. I got second runner-up and was pretty doggone proud of myself.
Q: What did you do in your year as title-holder?
A: I started going around and trying to get more science inclusion, making lab spaces accessible. I got a blog to talk about the issues that people with disabilities face. I started my own young professionals group —called Rochester Young Professionals with Disabilities— to try to get more people with disabilities involved with volunteerism as a different form of advocacy. When people see people with disabilities contributing to society and volunteering side by side with able-bodied people, it goes back to us all being in the same boat.
Q: Why is advocacy so important to you?
A: Because life sucks when you're disabled, and it's not because of your disability, it's because the environment isn't made for people with disabilities.
I'm not as close as I want to be to other people because I can't get into their homes. Something as simple as going to a friend's house as going to a movie I can't do, because there are stairs at other people's houses. Even if it's just one step, that one step is like Mt. Everest if you can't stand up and put your feet up.
Q: Why did you travel to Costa Rica?
A: We were there to learn what it was like to be disabled in a third world country. It's worse than America, obviously, but the same problems exist. Especially in a Catholic nation, religion plays a huge part in oppressing people with disabilities. It's seen as a sin. You or your family members did something to anger God, so now you as a person with a disability are being punished. Often people are hidden away. The biggest achievement most people accomplish is to sell lottery tickets by the side of the road, going up to cars into traffic. Often they die because they get hit by a vehicle.
Q: How did that trip affect you?
A: It was one of those pivotal moments that was so fortuitous. I climbed a volcano. I went to the top of a volcano and looked down into flowing magma. I could not believe that I did that in a wheelchair.
It was at that moment that I realized, screw being disabled. None of my able-bodied friends will ever be able to say they climbed to the top of an active volcano. I just had a blast.
Q: With everything you’ve already done, what one thing do you want to do most now?
A: I want to go to Germany, and hopefully when I'm in Germany I can go to France and England. I really want to go to Italy and see the giant frescoes.
But let's say I'm on my death bed tomorrow. Did I contribute to society? Did I try to help uplift others to the standard that I have for myself? I can easily say yes. I've done that, so it's a good life.
