William Stothers It all depends on your disability, of course, but most of us probably pay out more money, and most likely more time and energy, to manage our daily routines than non-disabled people. For example, even with health insurance, I shell out a steady flow of funds for wheelchair repairs, other orthopedic equipment and ventilator supplies. All those costs are …
Shared peer advice from polio survivors about what works for them.
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News about people who have made significant contributions to the disability community.
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Learning from Disability
Grace Young My life changed course when I had polio at age nine, but I was too young to realize it. When a person is disabled in adulthood their whole world is turned upside down pretty quickly. At the age of nine, I only knew that I couldn’t walk, play outside with my friends, or go to school for a …
Facing Reality
Grace Young My most shocking revelation was that I really did have a disability. That didn’t happen for almost forty years after I had polio. At age 46 I started working at Kaiser and my supervisor asked me, “Grace, do you consider yourself disabled?” It was the height of affirmative-action consciousness and he needed to identify minority members of his …
Past and Future
Grace Young When I had polio at age 9, I was happy to have a wheelchair – any wheelchair – that would allow me the freedom to leave my bedroom. The only model available at that time was all wood with a cane back and wooden wheels. Undoubtedly it’s featured in the Smithsonian now. Large, heavy, clunky – forget taking …
Why We’re Here: Support Groups
Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, M Ed Psych, Omaha, Nebraska is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association. A while back a nutritional product’s flyer, filled with impressive success stories, made the rounds. One of its claims had to do with a polio survivor, unable to lift her legs for 60 years—until …
Building Bridges
Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, M Ed Psych, Omaha, Nebraska is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association. At first she irritated me. A relative newcomer to a literature study group I attend was heading my way, and I didn’t want to deal with her. The previous week she had given me …
Whose Life Is It, Anyway?
Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, M Ed Psych, Omaha, Nebraska is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association. My friend Mary called with what she termed a dilemma: She has a friend whose mother won’t take a bath. “It’s been three months,” she said. “The woman refuses to bathe. Her daughter promises …
Changes of Heart
Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, M Ed Psych, Omaha, Nebraska, is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association. “You just don’t get it,” she said. My friend was accusing me of having “no idea what it’s like to be handicapped.” No milk of human kindness coursing through my veins, apparently. No empathy. …
Imperative to Fight Ableism
Karen Hagrup I am disabled and proud. I have a doctorate and two daughters. I live in a nice condo with my partner. I’m retired and volunteer regularly in my community. People come to me for help. I rarely worry anymore about others’ attitudes toward my impairment; they’ve probably got it wrong anyway. Some might say I’ve overcome my disability. …
Margaret Pfrommer and My Career
Allen I. Goldberg, MD, MBA, Master FCCP, Illinois BEFORE MEETING MARGARET PFROMMER I need to go back to my medical school days at Downstate in Brooklyn. In 1967, I was given an opportunity by my medical school and the French Government to visit France. There, my patron was Pr. Maurice CARA, a world pioneer of intensive care medicine, mobile intensive …
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