On July 1, 1995, aspiring action movie actor Barry Cuffie was celebrating his biggest role yet. The transplanted New Yorker had just been offered a spot on the nighttime soap opera, Central Park West. Before he could sign his first major television contract, Cuffie went home to Virginia to share the good news with his family. "I couldn't wait to tell my parents," Cuffie, who is an only child, said. "I was so happy because I was finally going to be able to take care of them for the rest of their lives."
On July 2, 1995, Cuffie, then 33 years of age, drove from his parents' Herndon home to Tysons Corner to buy a replacement battery for his cell phone. While waiting at a red light, Cuffie's car was hit from behind and the force broke his seat belt and threw him into the passenger seat. The impact broke his neck and instantly paralyzed him from the neck down.
"I was supposed to return to New York on Monday, it was supposed to be the happiest time in my life," Cuffie said. "Instead, the accident happened on Sunday."
Rather than let the accident slow him down, Cuffie, who lives with his parents in Herndon and is confined to a wheelchair, has taken on a host of new duties. Currently Cuffie is a George Mason University law student and he founded a non-profit organization, C-4, that works with people with disabilities. "From day one, I knew that just because I was paralyzed, I was not going to become helpless," the Virginia Dominion University graduate and member of the Reston Optimist Club said. "As long as I have my mind, there is nothing that I can't do."
<b>ON WEDNESDAY</b>, Cuffie, was honored for his attitude and his continued determination despite his physical setbacks. Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart joined U.S. Sen. John Warner (R-VA) in making Cuffie one of the first three recipients in the government agency's new "Ticket to Work Program."
The program is designed to help people with disabilities go back to work. "We are like Ralph Ellison's character, the Invisible Man," Cuffie said. "Society would prefer not to see us. They would like to lock us up in the basement and forget that we are there. What they don't know is that we have so much to offer society."
Under the program, Social Security disability and supplemental Security Income disability beneficiaries in Virginia will receive a ticket that may be redeemed to obtain vocational rehabilitation, job training and other support services from a network of employment service providers. Virginia and Washington, D.C. are participating in the second phase of the program, which, according to the Social Security Administration, will be implemented nationwide by January 2004. The voluntary program began in February 2002 in 13 states.
"The Ticket to Work Program is very important for people with disabilities," said Cuffie. "The ticket will allow me to find a job, bring in an income. I don't want to be a drain on my retired parents. I want to move back out, eventually."
Going to screen test after screen test, Cuffie, said his career as an actor taught him to have a very thick skin. "I don't take 'no' very easily," Cuffie said. "I would hear five 'no's' before I ever heard a 'yes.' I never took it personally and I learned that there was no such thing as 'can't.'"
Whether its re-entering the work force as an attorney or walking again, Cuffie says he will be successful. "There is nothing I cannot do if I put my mind to it," he said. "I know I will walk again. It is not even a question whether its due to medical science or my faith in God."
<b>CUFFIE SAID</b> that most disabled Americans do not want to feel like a ward for the state. "We want to feel like we are giving back to our community," he said. "That way government money can go to someone who really deserves state dollars, someone who is in much more dire circumstances. If I can give back to the community, I should."
Cuffie's C-4 Foundation, named for the spinal injury he received, is also helping people with disabilities get back into the work force. Sitting in his darkened bedroom, Cuffie has complete control over his two computers, television, VCR, lights, telephone and every other electronic device within the sound of his voice. Speaking into a microphone, Cuffie can tell his computer to turn the lights off, answer the phone or mute the television.
In a telethon on local cable access television last year, C-4 was able to raise enough money to purchase four similar $4,000 voice-activated systems. To date, Cuffie's organization has given away three of the programs, programs that were originally designed by a Maryland company, Trace Around, for the military and defense contractors. "It allows anyone who has to the ability to work from home in a virtual office," Cuffie said.
Eventually, Cuffie, and his seven-member board, would like to broaden the scope of his foundation's work. "We want to be a major non-profit organization," Cuffie said. "We want to be that niche between the insurance companies and the government whether someone needs repairs to their home or job training, we want them to think of C-4. The name, C-4, is not just about my injury it is also about the military explosives, C-4. We want our impact on society to be highly explosive and we want to empower every single disabled individual."