JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Electrical and computer engineering graduate student Julian Sosa navigates the wheelchair ramp at the Administration building yesterday afternoon. Sosa appreciates the wheelchair accessibility on campus.

What would have been one of the happiest days of a student's life turned tragic for one UA foreign student.

Julian Sosa, a Duitana, Colombia, native, traveled to Bogota Dec. 9, 1992 to receive a scholarship from the government. As a recent high school graduate, Sosa was one of 35 graduates in his country selected for an academic scholarship.

The secret militia guerilla called Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia, placed a bomb in the floor below where Sosa and his fellow graduates were meeting for the scholarship award ceremony.

The explosion blew him and his fellow graduates to the roof of the building, completely severing his spinal cord.

"In less than one second, I passed from happiness to sadness," Sosa said. "All my life changed in that moment."

For a week, Sosa teetered between life and death. A survivor, he is now confined to a wheelchair.

While studying engineering, Sosa spent his first semester at Javeriana University in the hospital and professors were sent to his room. Sosa said he gives much thanks to the university's president, Father Gerardo Arango, for making special arrangements for his schooling and inspiring him to continue his goal.

Arango's words have always remained with Sosa.

"Julian, you are one of the best students in Colombia and you shouldn't allow the guerilla to finish your life and destroy this country. This is your mission," Sosa said Arango told him.

This has been Sosa's doctrine ever since.

When he returned to Javeriana University, Sosa said he not only had to adjust to a higher level of education, but also a new lifestyle.

It's amazing for me. Every building I can get a rest room. In every building there is an elevator. I can open the door with the push of a button. In my country, it is much more difficult to get around. – UA student and Colombia native Julian Sosa

Sosa said he contemplated attending an American university for his graduate studies after his godfather described the improved conditions for handicapped people here. He said he was skeptical, but a visit to the States in 1998 convinced him to try it out.

"I didn't believe it. The U.S. is powerful, but I didn't know how it would be easier," Sosa said. "I was very surprised. The disabled can get along without difficulties."

After getting married in Colombia in May 2004, Sosa and his wife, Jennina, moved to Tucson where Julian Sosa is studying electrical and computer engineering.

Jennina Sosa, whom Julian Sosa met at Javeriana University, studies English at the Center for English as a Second Language.

Life at the UA

Because Colombia does not have federal regulations for handicapped accessibility like the United States, Sosa describes the UA as an extremely accessible place for him.

"It's amazing for me. Every building I can get a rest room. In every building there is an elevator. I can open the door with the push of a button," Sosa said. "In my country it is much more difficult to get around."

Sosa credits part of the accessibility to the Disability Resource Center, which he said provides a wide variety of services to others in wheelchairs ranging from classroom accommodations to helping with new building plans to an assistive technology computer lab.

"The DRC is amazing. They have a very good gym," Sosa said.

Sherry Santee, DRC physical therapist, said the West Coast in general is a more accessible place because it is more spread out with fewer steps up to buildings and the climate makes is less cumbersome. Therefore, Santee said, the UA has a higher number of chair users than other universities.

Santee said Sosa's appreciation for the DRC gym is evident, especially since he is able to work out on his own and does not always need her assistance.

"He really enjoys coming," Santee said. "He's always amazed at the equipment we have to work with."

Santee said Sosa even recorded a video of the gym's equipment to send home to his family.

But Sosa said the DRC also provides a community for him to meet other wheelchair users, which is a nice change because it is difficult to find other wheelchair users in the engineering department.

Sosa finds similar difficulties as other students in getting around campus, especially when it rains, which causes the sidewalks to become too slippery for his chair. But he said one of the problems the UA has not addressed is the hard to reach books on top shelves of the library.

Although Sosa has little problem asking for help, doing so is occasionally difficult.

"Once I walked and once I was very independent. Now I have to ask for help," Sosa said.

However, he says Colombians are generally more available to help those who are disabled.

"It's cultural. Colombian people like to be in more contact with you," Sosa said.

Santee said this difference is due to the fact that people in the United States are more accustomed to seeing people in wheelchairs getting along without assistance.

"People in the U.S. know chair users want to be independent. It is not as common in other countries. We're more hesitant to hover," Santee said.

For Sosa, his wheelchair has opened up a lot of opportunities to meet a variety of new people.

"I have seen it not as a problem, but as an opportunity. I love my wheelchair because of that," Sosa said.

Through everything, Sosa said his wife has been there for him.

"She has been all for me, especially here. Here, you feel lonely," Sosa said.

This loneliness will be alleviated in a few weeks when Sosa and his wife travel back to Colombia for six weeks to visit their families.

Sosa said after graduating with an engineering degree, he hopes to design new aids for people with disabilities in general.