KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010 / NEWS
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Photos by Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
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Andreas said for most people learning to drive a five-speed, the hardest part is shifting two feet between the clutch, brake and accelerator. While he was learning to drive a manual, he killed the engine a few times, but he learned fast.
When he got his driver's license, the state wanted to put a provision on his license requiring an annual checkup. When the state officials saw phocomelia on his application, they thought it was a disease that would get worse over time.
"Everybody is going to change over time, but my condition is not going to get worse," Andreas said.
--qualified candidate. But then came the face-to-face interviews, and he had exactly what employers were looking for, except for a "normal" handshake.
Applying for jobs frustrated Andreas.
"Why can't I be Andreas Brandenberger, period?" he said. "For me, I have this asterisk next to my name — Andreas Brandenberger, physically disabled."
As a teenager looking for work, he filled out numerous applications. Over the phone, he sounded like a
"In reality, employers say they don't discriminate against race, gender or physical disability," Andreas said. "It's all good and dandy in theory because by law you're not supposed to, but it happens unfortunately."
Andrea said he wouldn't apply for a job that he knew he couldnt perform.
Jim Lewis, president of Checkers grocery store, put aside Andreas' "limitations" and gave him his first shot at employment at age 17. Andreas assisted shoppers to their cars with groceries and was later moved inside to stock shelves.
At the University, Andreas got his foot in the door at Kansas Athletics by working summer basketball camps. Brett Ballard, former director of basketball operations, said Andreas adapted to any situation thrown at him on the court and never missed a beat. It took the coaches just 10 minutes to understand that he was capable.
"We wanted to allow him a chance to prove himself," Ballard said. "There was slight hesitation from us just to make sure he was comfortable with everything, but he didn't use his physical disability as any type of an excuse."
Currently, he is a student manager for the KU soccer team, where he makes copies, does paperwork in the offseason, makes sure practice runs smoothly and handles equipment during the season.
Andreas played on the men's club soccer team his freshman and sophomore years. He still gets his soccer fix as the student manager, jumping in as an extra if the women's team is short a player in practice. His love for soccer and knowledge of the sport makes setting up equipment and breaking it down after practice nothing like work.
During his sophomore year at the University, Andreas decided he would head to Snow Creek Ski Resort in Missouri and try snowboarding with his roommate, Dylan Hay, a senior from Baldwin City. In his first attempt at snowboarding, he strapped in and went down the hill.
--cutting with a knife.
Andreas' handshake
Weston White/KANSAN
Jim Argans, a junior from Chicago, shakes hands with Andreas Brandenberger, a senior from Baldwin City, before an indoor soccer class Tuesday afternoon at Robinson Gymnasium.
When meeting people for the first time, Andreas will often stick out his hand, and when the other person should stick his hand out in return, that person stutters, looks at Andreas' hand and wonders what to do.
With Andreas' limitations, he can't grab the person's hand and shake, but he is fully capable of sticking his hand out and going through the shaking motion while the person grabs his hand.
Every now and again, strangers will think that they need to greet Andreas with a first bump instead of a handshake.
"It its frustrating at times," Andreas said, "Obviously if I can shake your hand, why would I stick my hand out there?"
"A couple [situations] that are irritating are grabbing the tips of my fingers real gingerly, like they are picking something up that is real fragile," Andreas said. "The other is people grabbing my elbow or arm and not my hand."
Handshakes can be a complete view into the personality of the person on the other end of the handshake.
"That is my invitation," Andreas said. "I'm going to make eye contact and do everything else you're supposed to in a handshake."
On the second run, he fell and broke his right arm in the same area he had broken it in high school gym class. That didn't end his interest in snowboarding. During spring break last month, he headed to the real mountains of Winter Park, Colo., to hit the slopes again. Whether it was improved balance or more caution, Andreas came away from snowboarding unscathed.
"By no means have I experienced everything, there is to experience in the world, but there aren't too many things that I come across that I don't know what to do." Andreas said.
--cutting with a knife.
Although he may have perfected his scissor hold in wrestling, he still has not figured out how to operate scissors. He can use scissors, but the lines aren't always cut straight.
"As unfortunate as it is, they are not made for my hands," Andreas said. "Scissors and I just don't get along very well."
One hurdle in Andreas' social life is that he has yet to completely jump into the dating scene. Without full arms, he wonders if girls are comfortable dating someone with a "disability."
"If I went out on a date, I would go for finger food or pasta where I could eat it with just a fork," Andreas said. "And for the longest time, I wouldn't order steak because I couldn't cut it very easily."
"I think the main problem was me over-thinking it, asking myself, 'What are they going to think about me asking for them to cut it?' Andreas said.
Andreas' former girlfriend Emily suggested that Andreas just ask the restaurant to cut it for him.
Now, he asks the chef to cut meat into smaller pieces before bringing the meal out to him.
With his outgoing personality, he has no problem approaching and talking to women in a bar.
"For me, I can't just grow arms and maybe that is the one factor that limits me from dating." Andreas said.
When he graduates in May, he doesn't want to be remembered as the guy with phocoelia. Rather, he wants to be remembered as an outgoing college student with a sharp wit who enjoys soccer, snowboarding, hanging out with friends and beating them at pool by dropping the 8-ball in the corner pocket.
— Joe Preiner, a 2009 graduate and former Kansan reporter, provided both ideas and inspiration for this story.
"I've told countless people that other than getting the quality education and meeting tons of people, walking through the Campanile and down the hill will be iceing on the cake for the whole college experience," Andreas said.
Although he spent parts of his adolescent life hiding from it, Andreas has learned to embrace his phocomelia.
be his friend," Amanda said.
Ask Andreas about what he has accomplished in his 23 years, and he prefers to talk about the one thing he still hasn't done — walk down the hill for graduation.
"There is no remedy or magical pill that I can take. I'm not going to wear a sign that says 'I have phomelia', but I'm not going to hide it."
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Edited by Lauren Keith
1. Andreas positions his right foot near his underarm to apply his Old Spice deodorant. He used spray deodorant for a long time, but he has learned how to put on stick deodorant using his feet.
2. **Andreas backs out of a parking spot in the Allen Fieldhouse parking garage.** Growing up in the country, he worked with machinery and was taught the ins and outs of driving a manual transmission.
3. Strolling down Jayhawk Boulevard.
Andreas multitasks by walking and talking on his cell phone on his way to class in Stauffer-Flint Hall.
4. Andreas, a 23-year-old senior, whets his appetite with a burger, fries and beer at Johnny's tavern. Before college, Andrea ordered food that he could pick up with his two hands or eat without having to cut it himself.
5. Andreas checks his Blackboard site on the computers at Watson Library. He trained himself to type with the hunt and peck system with two fingers.
Check out an audio slideshow about Andreas at kansan.com.