Reporter’s Note: When I met Bettie Jernigan, with an “ie” not “y,” I already knew from the unique spelling of her name that she was a special individual. Jernigan has traveled a winding road and for the past 25 years; she has done most of that traveling from a wheelchair. Nevertheless, Jernigan has found a way to remain a phenomenal woman.
Before I began working on this story I was told to make it more about Bettie’s accomplishments and less about her setbacks. But I already know for myself that people with disabilities are some of the strongest people you will ever meet; they’ve learned how to adapt to their conditions and become stronger in other areas. Jernigan is independent beyond measure and navigates into Lake Park and does all of her own shopping with Victoria riding on the back of her wheelchair. They appreciate help but do not depend on it. So, my emotion towards
Jernigan was anything but pity, maybe envy instead.
Most people need a will to make a way, but Bettie Jernigan only needs a wheel to make her way.
VALDOSTA — When one enters the home of Bettie Jernigan, there is the welcoming presence of a huge family portrait of her dad and his children along with collections of dolls like Betty Boop (which Jernigan was often called by friends), Scarlet O’Hara and Barbies in addition to an array of seashells and Stephen King books. Her companion, Calico, is the door-greeter, whom I was fortunate enough to be liked by.
Jernigan’s education consists of her GED and the completion of a home-study accounting course in 1992. Jernigan has not always been confined to her wheelchair and has worked as a cashier, waitress, and in lock-making and sewing factories. Jernigan enjoys crocheting and sewing. She also reads and is fond of the works of Stephen King.
“But I don’t like his (King’s) language sometimes,” laughs Jernigan. “I’ve learned how to read pass the words or substitute other words and still get what the story is about.”
Jernigan has resided in the Lowndes County area since 1990, and has been a resident of Lake Park since 2001. Originally from Mississippi, Jernigan is the daughter of Charlie and Mary Reed, sister of Rita Jones, niece of Deloris Rodgers, and grandmother of Victoria White. These are the family members who Jernigan keeps in close contact with and has the strongest family ties to, especially Victoria, whom she has had since the girl was only 2 years old. Now at the age of 7, it’s easy to determine that Victoria is a major part of Jernigan’s life, providing her with great joy and purpose through any depression she faces.
The depression that Jernigan confronts at times comes from a condition that she was diagnosed with in 1983 known as transverse myelitis, which causes nerve damage on the spine. According to doctors the condition is caused by a virus, although Jernigan has her own conclusions.
Jernigan’s condition began with a numbness in her hips as she prepared to go to work one evening. One week in July of 1983, Jernigan went to the doctor three times until they admitted her to the hospital. One morning, Jernigan rose from her hospital bed preparing to go to the restroom and her legs just “went out.”
“I fell back across my bed, my legs just didn’t work. It was a very scary and confusing feeling,” said Jernigan.
Jernigan spent the next two months in the hospital where physical therapy was used to get her stable enough to use a walker. Then she even got well enough to use a quad-cane. Always a determined and independent woman, Jernigan returned to work against her doctor’s recommendations.
“I just assumed that if this came on all of a sudden, then it would go away just as easy,” said Jernigan. But things did not improve and by 1995, Jernigan had become permanently confined to her wheelchair. Doctors then blamed her misfortune on a nervous breakdown, which could have been possible with a runaway son, an alcoholic husband and other issues, but Jernigan knew better. Currently, she takes medication for depression but not for nerve problems.
Since becoming confined to her wheelchair, Jernigan has gained a different perspective as to the way disabled persons are treating by society along with several scary incidents. “I didn’t realize until I became handicap how much we ignore the handicap. And one of the things that I would like to see changed in the world is that there would be more concern, help, and awareness for the handicap. People seem so unconcerned about the handicap, this is not chosen,” said Jernigan.
And speaking of close and scary encounters, right in Lake Park, Jernigan was crossing the street at the crosswalk and a lady in a vehicle ran into her and proceeded pushing the wheelchair across the street.
“I don’t even think she realized until her passenger said something to her, and they kept going,” said Jernigan. That particular day, scared and shaken up, Jernigan didn’t finish her trip to Family Dollar and Winn-Dixie. She called her sister, who asked whether she called the authorities with a tag number.
“I told her, ‘Do you think I got a tag number!’”
When she did have a car she could operate and slide in and out of her wheelchair, Jernigan has been stopped on the side of Lake Park roads with a dead battery, unable to get out of her car, waving at passersby for help and no one has stopped. After she could no longer drive with a properly-equipped vehicle when her condition worsened, Jernigan has been riding along in her chair, hit a hole, fell out of her chair, and attempted waving people down only to see them keep riding. In both incidents, only one kind soul in each situation stopped, after hours of agony for Jernigan, to lend a hand. Jernigan said that despite color, age, or condition, we no longer seem to have regard for our neighbors.
Through all these adversities, Jernigan has remained strong and able enough to raise her granddaughter, Victoria. At 16 months, Victoria still could not talk. “We got in contact with Babies Can’t Wait and started speech therapy, working with her until age 4. By then, she was talking 90 miles a minute,” laughs Jernigan of her enthusiastic granddaughter. The two do homework together, collect and watch movies and DVDs, and play games on the computer, which is also how Jernigan does all her Christmas shopping for Victoria and pays her bills.
But everything can not be taken care of from the confines of Jernigan’s home.
“Victoria has programs at school and church that I can’t attend. I’d love to see her do things and I know she would love for me to be there, but I can’t,” said Jernigan. Jernigan recalls the time she got to attend one of Victoria’s events because a woman came from another church and gave her a ride in her handicap van, dropped her off, went all the way to her own church, and came back and picked her up and took her home again.
“I had told Victoria I would be there, and at first, she couldn’t see me in the audience. She looked so sad, but when she looked out and found me, her whole face lit up and she sang at the top of her lungs,” said Jernigan proudly.
Without the proper equipment, Jernigan misses many important things in Victoria’s life as she can often only attend via phone conference. “I tried to get a van from one place and was told I had to have a job to obtain help. I told them I do have one, a full time job at that, that’s taking care of my granddaughter.”
MIDS provides transportation for Jernigan and Victoria to doctor appointments, which is covered by Medicare, but that’s it. Jernigan would love to see the little girl she saved from “the system” perform at school and church, but there is no help for this grandmother doing what many other grandparents have taken on.
“I would also like to see precedent set on grandparents to have rights to their grandchildren. I am not the only one who has taken on the challenge of raising their grandkids, and I would like to see kids treat their parents nicer,” said Jernigan. “I see these court shows and have heard of cases with children against their parents and trying to keep children from their grandparents. We need rights too.”
Although Jernigan has Victoria and faces transportation challenges, she said, “We make it. We get things accomplished, but Victoria is getting too big to ride on the chair with me. But we always make it.”
