Deborah Ross, 60, recently traded in being a teacher for being an artist. Now instead of cajoling fifth graders to stay in their seats, please, the T12 para from Yorktown, Va., showcases her portraits at local galleries.

How’d you join the crip club?
In 2003 my husband of 34 years shot me twice and then turned the gun on himself and died immediately. Thanks to three nurses who showed up (it happened in a parking lot), I was rushed to a hospital and into surgery twice that night. Luckily I lived, although everyone thought I wouldn’t make it.

How has your disability shaped you?
Right before I was shot I had gotten national board status — the highest honor a teacher can earn. When I realized I wouldn’t be able to go back to work, I volunteered at the school, and then taught part-time for five years. But this year I decided that’s not me anymore, I just want to be an artist now. I’ve changed my whole identity.

What’s your motto?
When I was still in the hospital my daughter gave me a magnet that says, “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” And I thought, yeah, that’s my life. That’s how I feel.

Describe the day you got yourself together.
One Friday at Shepherd Center my PT, Shannon, tried to get me out of bed, but I didn’t feel like it. After 45 minutes Shannon whipped open the blinds and said, “Look out the window, there’s more to life than Shepherd Center.” I felt like she slapped me. That whole afternoon I cried and cried and cried. And then that weekend I got in my chair and pushed as much as I could. “Damn it, I’m going to be strong,” I thought. “I’m going to be strong!”

Lay down some wisdom.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help, because there is someone out there who really wants to help you. It was hard to learn how to ask, but now it’s easy. I ask people to fill up my van with gas and I hand them my credit card, and only one guy filled up his car with my card without me knowing.

So, we’re in a recession.
I know! I’m using coupons now in the grocery store and I never bothered to do that before. Some stores have a day when they double the coupons and that’s when I go.

SHOCK ME
I love punching guys out.

On my Wii system, that is.

I’m very laid back, very quiet. My fellow teachers would always tell me how patient and calm I am, but I wasn’t on the inside. I mean, it’s hard to teach fifth grade and be calm.

But when I’m doing the boxing game? Oh my gosh. I’m a different person, not  calm at all! A friend saw me boxing once and she was dying laughing. I was saying all kinds of stuff and punching, and I was really getting physical, knocking them out. I KO’d a lot of people. It was really cool.

My nephew who’s 8 years old, he has a game he likes with dance moves. He can do the whole body moving, but I just sit in the chair using the control like he does, and it registers like I’m dancing. It’s good cardio-vascular exercise. There’s even a little log that comes with it, a chart so you can see how you advance. Also on the Wii, I have a canoe that I paddle and I play tennis. All kinds of stuff.

The part I like best, though, is punching guys out, it’s a lot of fun.