RUTH SIENKIEWICZ MERCER WAS BORN IN 1950.

SHE HAS NEVER SPOKIN A WORD, NEVER WRITTEN OR TYPED A SENTENCE.

SHE HAS HAD VERY LITTLE FORMAL EDUCATION, AND READS AT BEST, AT A FIRST GRADE LEVEL, RECOGNIZING ONLY SIMPLE WORDS PLACED BEFORE HER IN A FAMILIAR CONTEXT.

RUTH HAS BEEN CONFINED TO A WHEELCHAIR OR BED FOR ALL OF THE WAKING HOURS OF HER LIFE.

SHE HAS NEVER WALKED, NEVER FED HERSELF, NEVER COMBED HER HAIR, NEVER DRESSED HERSELF.

SHE IS A QUADRIPLEGIC, A VICTIM OF CEREBRAL PALSEY.

ASIDE FROM HER EYES, EARS,NOSE, DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AND VOCAL CORDS (WHICH CAN PRODUCE ABOUT TEN DISTINCT SOUNDS) RUTH'S BODY IS FUNCTIONALLY USELESS.

HER HANDS COULD NOT POINT OR GESTURE, HER FEET AND LEGS CANNOT KICK OR SUPPORT THE WEIGHT OF HER SEVENTY-FIVE POUND BODY.

RUTH HAS LIVED IN VIRTUALLY EVERY SITUATION POSSIBLE FOR A SEVERELY HANDICAPPED PERSON.

RUTH SPENT HER EARLIER YEARS WITH HER DEEPLY CARING PARENTS, TWO YOUNGER SISTERS AND A BROTHER, FIRST IN AMHERST THEN IN SPRINGFIELD MASSACHUSETTS.

SHE ENJOYED THREE AND A HALF YEARS AT A WONDERFUL PRIVATE FACILITY, THE CROTCHED MOUNTAIN REHABILITATION CENTER IN GREENFIELD NEW HAMPSHIRE.

THEN IN 1962, SHE WAS COMMITTED TO A STATE INSTITUTION, THE BELCHERTOWN (MASSACHUSETTS) STATE SCHOOL.

TWO YEARS AFTER HER ARRIVEL AT BELCHERTOWN, A LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION CONCLUDED THAT "THE INSTITUTION HAD NOT YET EMERGED FROM THE DARK AGES IN IT'S TREATMENT OF THE RESIDENTS."

NINE YEARS LATER ANOTHER COMMISSION FOUND THE CONDITIONS AT BELCHERTOWN "SHOCKING AND OUTRAGEOUS."

AS A RESULT OF A LAWSUIT INITIATED BY THE FRIENDS AND RELATIVE'S OF THE RESIDENTS, THE FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT ASSUMED DIRECT OPERATION OF THE INSTITUTION IN LATE 1973 AND IMPLEMENTED DRASTIC REFORMS.

RUTH REMAINED AT THE STATE SCHOOL UNTIL JUNE 1978, WHEN ALONG WITH FOUR HANDICAPPED FRIENDS AND FELLOW RESIDENTS, SHE LEFT TO LIVE IN HER PRIVATE APARMENT IN SPRINGFIELD.

CURRENTLY, RUTH RESIDES IN NORTHAMPTON MASSACHUSETTS WITH HER HUSBAND.

THIS BOOK TELLS THE LIFE STORY OF RUTH SIENKIEWICZ-MERCER AS RECOUNTED BY HER.

IT IS HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY, WRITTEN WITH MY ASSISTANCE.

SHE BEGAN WORK ON THIS PROJECT IN 1976, WHILE STILL A RESIDENT OF BELCHERTOWN STATE SCHOOL.

HER NARRATIVE AND THIS BOOK WERE CONPLETED IN 1988.

I WAS INTRODUCED TO RUTH IN JANUARY 1979, WHEN I WAS HIRED AS A TEACHER FOR A PROGRAM CALLED F.R.E.E. - FUNDIMENTAL RIGHT TO EQUAL EDUCATION.

THIS PROGRAM PROVIDED INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIALIZATION TRAINING TO RUTH AND THE FOUR OTHER SEVERELY HANDICAPPED PEOPLE WHO WERE RUTH'S FELLOW BELCHERTOWN REFUGEES.

ALTHOUGH IT USUALLY CONVENED ON THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS IN AMHERST, F.R.E.E. WAS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE UNIVERSITY.

IT WAS, AND STILL IS, RUN BY SHELTON INC., A NONPROFIT CORPORATION, THAT PROVIDES SUPPORT SERVICES TO HANDICAPPED INDIVIDUALS.

IN 1979, I HAD JUST RECEIVED A MASTER'S DEGREE IN ENGLISH FROM U. MASS.

AND WAS PLANNING TO ATTEND LAW SCHOOL IN THE FALL.

ONE OF MY PRIMARY ACTIVITIES WITH THE FREE PROGRAM WAS TO HELP RUTH WRITE HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

ALTHOUGH SHE HAD BEGUN WORKING ON IT NEARLY THREE YEARS EARLIER, ONLY A BRIEF OUTLINE AND SEVERAL PAGES OF ROUGHLY DRAWN ANECDOTES HAVE BEEN CONPLETED.

FROM JANUARY THROUGH AUGUST, WE WORKED ON RUTH'S BOOK SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK.

IN INTERVIEW SESSIONS THAT USUALLY LASTED ABOUT TWO HOURS, RUTH TOLD ME ANECDOTES FROM VERIOUS TIMES IN HER LIFE, FILLING IN THE DETAILS IN RESPONSE TO MY MANY QUESTIONS.

RUTH INDICATES WITH "YES", "NO", OR "MAYBE" WITH FACIAL EXPRESSIONS.

A CURLED-LIPPED FROWN MEANS "NO" USUALLY ACCOMPANIED WITH A SLIGHT RAISING OF HER FOREARMS.

THE MORE PRONOUNCED THE CURL OF HER LIP, THE MORE EMPHATIC THE NEGATIVE.

RAISED EYES INDICATES "YES" OFTEN PUNCTUATED WITH A SMILE.

RUTH FREQUENTLY GROWLS, COOS, SIGHS, CHIRPS, YELPS, CHORTLES OR EVEN CHATTERS HER TEETH TO ADD TONE TO HER PRONOUNCEMENTS.

RUTH INDICATES "MAYBE" WITH A RELATIVELY BLAND HYBRID OF HER YES AND NO MODES.

BY UTILIZING THIS LIMITED PHYSCIAL REPERTOIRE, RUTH CAN PRODUCE VERBAL COMMUNICATION WITH HER WORD BOARDS.

THESE ARE LAMINATED PIECES OF WHITE CARDBOARD; APPROXIMATELY SIXTEEN BY TWENTY INCHES, ON WHICH WORDS, PHRASES AND NUMBERS, ARE ARRANGED IN ROWS AND COLUMNS.

THE ENTRIES ARE GROUPED BY LOGICALLY ON EACH BOARD IN SECTIONS, DELINEATED WITH BORDERS OF VERIOUS COLORS.

SECTIONS INCLUDE PRONOUNS NAMES OF PROMINENT PEOPLE IN RUTH'S LIFE, VERBS, ADVERBS, ADJECTIVES, PREPOSITIONS, INTERROGATIVES, COMMON EXPRESSIONS, FAMILIER PLACES, THINGS TO EAT, COLORS, ARTICLES OF CLOTHING, AND SEVERAL EXPLETIVES.

THERE'S A SECTION FOR THE ALPHABET AND THE NUMBERS 1 THROUGH 10.

OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS, RUTH HAS USED TWO OR THREE SUCH BOARDS WITH ENTRIES ON BOTH SIDES.

WHEN WE MET BACK IN 1979, HER BOARDS CONTAINED ABOUT 400 ENTRIES.

SEVERAL MONTHS LATER RUTH, LAURE LEE JONES (THE FIRST DIRECTOR OF THE F.R.E.E. PROGRAM,) AND I DEVELOPED SOME NEW BOARDS CONTAINING ABOUT 800 ENTRIES.

HER CURRENT BOARDS CONTAINS OVER 1,800 ENTRIES.

RUTH CAN NEITHER HOLD THE BOARDS NOR POINT TO HER CHOSEN WORDS OR PHRASES.

THE LISTENER MUST POSITION THE BOARDS IN FRONT OF HER, THEN USING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, SHE THEN SELECTS THE APPROPRIATE BOARD.

SHE GUIDES HER LISTENER TO THE DESIRED SECTION ON THAT BOARD EITHER BY LOOKING AT IT OR BY ANSWERING "YES OR NO" QUESTIONS WITH HER FACE.

SHE PINPOINTS THE EXACT WORD OR PHRASE IN THE SAME FASHION.

HERE IS A TYPICAL CONVERSATION WITH RUTH VIA HER WORD BOARDS, I HOLD THE BOARDS IN FRONT OF HER AND RUTH SELECTS BOARD 1 BY GIVING A RAISED-EYE YES WHEN I ASK "THIS BOARD ?"

SHE LOOKS AT THE TOP PART OF THE BOARD AND LEADS ME TO THE SECTION CONTAINING PEOPLES NAMES.

THEN I RUN MY FINGER SLOWLY ACROSS THE SECTION; SHE STOPS ME AT THE CORRECT COLUMM BY RAISING HER EYES.

I RUN MY FINGER DOWN THE COLUMM AND SHE RAISES HER EYES AGAIN TO STOP ME AT THE NAME SHARI.

I KNOW THAT ONE OF RUTH'S SISTERS IS NAMED SHARI, AND ALSO SHE ONCE HAD AN ATTENDANT BY THAT NAME, SO I ASK, "DO YOU MEAN YOUR SISTER SHARI ?"

HER POSITIVE EYE RESPONSE IDENTIFIES THE SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION.

IF WE ARE SIMPLY CHATTING, I MIGHT ASK "DID SHARI CALL YOU RECENTLY ?" OR "DID YOU SEE HER ?"

WHEN WE WERE WORKING ON THIS BOOK, I MIGHT HAVE ASKED "DO YOU WANT TO TELL ME A STORY ABOUT SHARI ?"

DEPENDING ON HER RESPONSE, I WOULD EITHER ASK HER SEVERAL MORE ESTABLISHING QUESTIONS OR SOLICIT FURTHER INFORMATION ON HER BOARDS.

AN ANECDOTE INVOLVING SHARI APPEARS IN AN EARLY PART OF RUTH'S NARRATIVE.

IN ONE OF OUR FIRST WORKING SESSIONS ON THE BOOK, RUTH INDICATED THE WORD "SHARI" ON HER BOARD.

I ASKED HER SEVERAL YES-OR-NO QUESTIONS AND ESTABLISHED THAT SHE WANTED TO TELL ME A STORY THAT OCCURRED WHEN SHE WAS TEN YEARS OLD AND LIVING AT HOME WITH HER FAMILY.

(FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, THE MORE ONE KNOWS ABOUT RUTH'S ACTIVITIES, PERSONAL HISTORY, FAMILY AND FRIENDS THE EASIER IT IS TO FACILITATE HER COMMUNICATION.)

RUTH THEN DIRECTED ME TO HER SPELLING CHART ON ANOTHER BOARD.

SHE DID THIS BY LOOKING AT THE UPPER CORNER OF THE BOARD IN USE AND CURLING HER LIP NEGATIVELY - HER SIGNAL TO CHANGE BOARDS.

(RUTH'S BOARDS ARE NOW MARKED IN THE UPPER CORNER AS BOARD 1, BOARD 2 AND SO FORTH, SO SHE CAN CHANGE BOARDS QUICKLY.)

WHENEVER WE LAND AT THE SPELLING CHART IN OUR TRAVELS ACROSS THE WORD BOARDS, I TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND MUTTER TO MYSELF, "HERE WE GO AGAIN - ADVENTURES IN SPELLING."

OWING TO HER LIMITED EDUCATION, AS WELL AS HER NON-EXISTENT WRITING CAPACITY AND HER INABILITY TO SOUND OUT WORDS, RUTH'S SPELLING SKILLS ARE VERY RUDIMENTARY.

IN THIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE, HOWEVER, SHE DID QUITE WELL.

FIRST WE SPELLED OUT D.O.L., MEANING "DOLL."

SEVERAL FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS IDENTIFIED THE DOLL AS RUTH'S.

SHE THEN SPELLED OUT .G.R.E.T.L.

HER DOLL'S NAME WAS GRETEL.

THE NEXT AND FINAL CLUE IN THIS SEQUENCE IS "SOAP."

BY GENERATING .SHARI.DOL.GRETL.SOAP, AND BY ANSWERING A FEW DOZEN YES-OR-NO QUESTIONS, COLORING HER RESPONCES WITH VERIOUS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND SOUNDS, RUTH TOLD ME THE STORY OF HOW SHE ASKED HER KID SISTER SHARI; TO WASH THE HAIR OF HER DOLL GRETEL, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

MY FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS PERTAINED TO SHARI'S RESPONCE, WHAT CAME OF THE INCIDENT, AND ITS EMOTIONAL AND PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE.

THE CONVERSATION LASTED ABOUT AN HOUR.