Success Stories
Santina Muha
The afternoon of March 9th, 1989 found 5 year old Santina Muha heading to the pediatrician’s office for chicken pox with her mother and grandmother, when suddenly their Ford Escort was hit headlong by an oncoming station wagon. While her mother and grandmother sustained minor injuries, Santina sustained a spinal cord injury at the T10/T11 level.
“Transitioning into a world of living with disability brings many changes,” Santina says. “How you live at home, how you go out into the world, how you see people and how people see you.” Having been so young when initially injured, Santina held a childlike optimism about her new stance on life. Being a person with a disability did not mean that she couldn’t hold positive hopes and dreams about life and its possibilities. “Luckily, I was blessed with ambition and drive and family and friends to motivate me, I have pushed myself to acquire the education and skills necessary for entering the work force, obtaining internships, joining groups, and making sure that when the time came, I would be ready and qualified to excel in the work force.”
Santina graduated from Rutgers University in January 2006 with a degree in Communication and Sociology. She was now ready to begin a journey which would lead her into her dream job of working in the media or entertainment field. Not long after her graduation, while attending an Abilities Expo in Edison, New Jersey, Santina met Marcie Roth, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association's CEO/Executive Director. Santina mentioned her recent graduation and asked if she could submit some freelance writing for their publication – SCI Life. A month later she received a phone call asking her to draft an article, which led to the successful publication of her first piece about NSCIA's involvement in assisting survivors of the Katrina disaster. Santina’s next piece—"Public Accessibility Makes Gains"—made the cover of the very next issue.
In July of 2006 NSCIA offered Santina a job as a Communications Associate, a position which she still holds today.
An ambitious and motivated spirit, Santina also became the first person to use a wheelchair on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" She was one of 12 people selected out of 2000 to take part in their Pop Culture Week and won $16,000 dollars while on the show. When asked, “What kind of advice can you give to others who desire to re-enter the workforce?” She replied, “After sustaining a spinal cord injury, I believe it is important NOT to think, ‘I can't accomplish X, Y and Z,’ but rather ‘HOW am I going to accomplish X, Y and Z?’. Whatever your passion is, it can be done.