Barton and Megan Cutter were married in 2004 at a small church in Tuscaloosa, AL. In 2005, they knew that they would need to relocate to a place more accessible for their family. Barton and Megan find that wherever they go, there is an opportunity to inspire others with the love they share. Read on to find out how their love story began.

Click here for PDF of the original article printed in Tuscaloosa News.

The Love Between Them
by Markeshia Ricks

A chance meeting two years ago brought a love to face all odds.
Barton and Megan Cutter practice a martial arts maneuver Saturday morning on the University of Alabama Quad. The couple met in Arizona in 2002 and married on November 13, 2004, in Tuscaloosa. They said they continue to study martial arts to protect not only themselves, but each other if necessary.

Barton and Megan Cutter are a lot like most newlyweds. They finish each other's sentences when one can't remember something. And they still beam when they share the details of their courtship and nuptials of less than a year ago.
 

The Cutters also are avid Bujinkan martial arts enthusiasts and train together on the University of Alabama Quad at least twice a week.

Barton Cutter has trained for nearly seven years and is a second-degree black belt. Megan has trained for a little more than four years and is a green belt, and soon-to-be black belt if her husband has anything to say about it.
“It's something that we both really love,” she said.

It's what brought us together,” Barton said.

The only thing that might suggest that the Cutters' lives are a little different is the wheelchair.

Barton, 24, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to get around. But Megan, 28, said that never stopped the blossoming of love between them.
The two met Valentine's Day weekend two years ago in Tucson, Ariz., through mutual friends. “We were only around each other for about a half an hour,” Megan said, “But there was definitely a connection.”

“I couldn't stop staring at her,” Barton said with a laugh.

That fleeting first encounter sparked a friendship. The two kept in touch by swapping e-mails until they saw each other again when Megan returned to Arizona in May 2003.

“We worked together kind of behind the scenes at this event called Initiation,” Megan said, “We got a chance to talk and really get to know each other and found out we both loved creative writing, and we came from similar backgrounds.”

Both have divorced parents and fathers who remarried. Megan's mother, well-known local artist Anna von deBardeleben, died in 2001 after battling multiple sclerosis for several years. Her death led Megan to martial arts.
Barton said he already knew that Megan was the one for him, but he was doing everything in his power to get her caught up.

“Before I met Megan, I was never talking to women,” he said, “But after we started e-mailing back and forth and then started talking on the phone, I had no doubt in my mind that she was the one for me. But she still had no idea of what was going on.”

Megan, who was grappling with the end of a long-term relationship and the death of her mother when she met Barton, said her heart knew she was in love, but it took her mind a while to catch up.

But a good friend and eventual bridesmaid Mindy Young of Tuscaloosa said she sensed a change in her friend when she returned from that weekend with Barton. “I knew she was in love,” Young said. “Her face had changed, and her outlook was like that of a woman in love. But I didn't know if she knew yet.”

Power of Flowers

Megan's mind caught up fast after Barton sent her flowers. Because of a snafu with the delivery, she didn't get the flowers until three days after he had sent them. Barton said he didn't know why she hadn't yet called him or e-mailed him to say how much she loved the flowers.

“That was really funny,” he said, “I was just sitting at home waiting for a call or an e-mail and I hadn't heard anything from her.”

But eventually she got those flowers and they were a nudge that mde everything start to click for her. “After a few weeks, I knew I was in love,” she said.

By the time the two had made arrangements to spend Thanksgiving weekend together, they both knew that they were getting married, it was just a matter of when. “Barton's plan was to come here for New Year's and I thought that's when he would propose,” she said.

But he couldn't wait that long. He had friends help him set the mood, and he surprised her with a ring.

Meet the Parents

Neither Barton nor Megan had told their parents that they were seriously seeing anyone, let alone thinking about getting married. “They were all shocked,” Megan said.
Megan also hadn't told anyone at Phifer Wire, where she works in advertising. “By my having a very public break up of the other relationship, I'd learned to keep some things private,” she said.

Barton said all his friends knew that he was probably going to propose because he just wouldn't stop talking about it. “I really hadn't told my mom much except that I'd met this girl,” he said. “I told my dad and stepmom a little more because they had come to visit me the week before Megan came to visit, so they had a little forewarning.

But there were real concerns raised by their respective loved ones. They asked questions about the kind of relationship the couple would have and how they would handle challenges they would face with Barton in a wheelchair and discrimination against people with disabilities, still an issue in many workplaces.

“It took a while because they really didn't see that we had an intimate relationship,” Megan said, “It wasn't until we attended a cousin's wedding reception that they saw us dancing that they realized that our relationship wasn't that of just a caretaker role, but that it would be that of a true husband and wife.”

There were also concerns about where the couple would live and how they would be able to afford all of the assistance Barton needs to help him do things such as feed himself. Once married, Barton lost is Social Security benefits.
After graduating from the University of Arizona, Barton moved to Tuscaloosa, where he has ultimately given up a lot of his independence.

“This is the first time in my whole life I've been homebound,” he said.
With no sidewalks in their Druid Hills neighborhood, no nearby bus stops and limited door-to-door transportation that can be used only for emergencies, Barton has had no luck in finding employment. The couple are concerned about whether they'll be able to stay in Tuscaloosa.

Wedding Bliss

Megan said family and friends truly accepted their relationship when they were married on Nov. 13, 2004. “The wedding was an extremely healing service,” she said. “It brought our friends and family together.”

It was also the first time that friends and family saw Barton walk with a specially made walker that helped him stand as he walked Megan down the aisle.

“Married life has been absolutely wonderful,” Barton said. Though Barton is still looking for work, the couple is talking about starting a family someday.
Young and her husband, Eric, who both train in Bujinkan martial arts with the Cutters, said they will be disappointed if their friends have to move because of inadequate services.

Both agree that Barton is a capable person who is often under-estimated because he uses a wheelchair and his speech is hard to understand.
“When we train, sometimes the guys walk up to him and they'll patronize him because he's in a wheelchair,” Eric Young said. “But they quickly figure out not to pull their punches because he's not going to pull his.”

Mindy Young said there should be more access to public transportation for people who want to work and need alternate ways of getting around.
Bu the Cutters said they would do what they have to do to have the life that they want.

“The foundation of our relationship lies in God, in each together and in the love between us,” Megan said. “Moving is an option we're considering, but we haven't decided yet.”