Like F.D.R., I had polio. Ask me anything

[mopaul]

I was two years old when i contracted polio in 1953. The disease killed and crippled millions, including President Roosevelt.

I am from the last group to get polio, the year I got it was the year the vaccine was made widely available, so I missed out on the vaccine. I am among the youngest living polio survivors, although I'm 53. The disease was practically wiped out in the mid fifties, and I know of only one other person who had it.

It's amazing to look back at the history of polio and see it ENDED on a particular date. Amazing to think that researchers are working all the time on curing horrid diseases, like aids, cancer, etc. The fact that this epidemic was ended in the U.S. and most of the world gives one hope for future miracle cures and vaccines.

I could only watch parts of the FDR documentaries, as much as I love history, and especially his history, parts were just too difficult for me to watch.

I have a hard time just doing simple things like the dishes, but I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to be the president, during that time in our nation's history, with the added burden of polio.

And I've thought long and hard about FDR's decision to hide his affliction from the public. I'm sure he had his reasons, the times were different then, and people's perceptions about disabilities are different too.

A very controversial figure FDR. Beloved, and hated by some, but only a human being, with imperfections. Our first disabled president. And perhaps our last.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. If your name had been Janny

and you had a sister named Patty, you were my neighbors in my apartment house. Janny was two years younger than me (which means she was born in 1953), and had contracted polio and, as I recall, wore braces to get around-the house we lived in wasn't wheelchair equipped. Janny was a sweet girl, and I felt she was very courageous to be so positive and enthusiastic about life.

[Spinzonner]

2. I'm a bit confused by your dates

The Salk vaccine was declared "safe and Effective" at a conference on April 12, 1955 - not in 1953 - and made widely available thereafter. There were trials before that, however, that you might have just missed involvement in.

The 50-year anniversary of that date just passed. It was also the anniversary of Roosevelts death and was so chosen because the March of Dimes was started in his honor and run by one of his closest confidantes.

I am a bit older than you and was lucky enough to miss infection before the vaccine was available. My father, however, got Infantile Paralysis (as it was called in Roosevelts day) and it affected his right side causing growth impairment and permanent disuse of his right arm and a limp in his right leg.

As to 'disabled', I guess it depends how you define it. Roosevelt had his and JFK had numerous physical problems, it was later revealed. However, both had superior intellect and judgement, which is what the office really requires. WOuld that our current pResident had a physical problem instead of the mental one he does have.

[mopaul]

3. me too

i was only two, and the story is second hand. i'm going on approximations.

infantile poliomylitis. fucked up my left leg and arm. now i have post polio syndrome, a slow degeneration of muscle tissue. but i'm one of the lucky ones.

[kcwayne]

4. I contracted a mild case of polio in 1953 as an infant

which caused complete atrophy of the muscle tissue in my left foot and and minor atrophy in my calf. I spent my toddler years in a brace and have vivid memories of the therapy sessions. I had corrective surgery when I was 5 at City Hospital in New York, and still remember the ward full of children who had been afflicted to a much greater extent than I.

As far as FDR hiding his affliction, I fully understand it. People are influenced by image more than intellect, and the image of a crippled leader is a tough sell.

Bush and FDR have some commonality in this regard. When you see FDR struggling to walk and holding onto escorts, you know he is afflicted if you are at all perceptive. When you see Bush try to speak or ride scooters, the perceptive among us know he is mentally defective. Today's power brokers are no more likley to come out and say "Bush is a bumbling moron barely capable of changing a lightbulb, but he struts well" than FDR era handlers would say "FDR is crippled below the waist and cannot walk, but his intellect is sharp, and his ideas and creativity are exceptional."

And the irony is today's voters will vote for the mentally defective buffoon well before they would vote for a physically impaired genius.

[mopaul]

5. I grew up in Shriner's Hosptital for crippled children in st. louis

years and years of corrective surgery. wards full of disabled girls and boys. i was one of the lucky ones.

bush is mentally crippled, but doesn't even hide it well.

[LatePeriduct]

8. I'm not so sure one can call Bush dumb....

Evil has taken on many forms throughout history, has evil actually been stupid?

He's a powerful manipulator on his rank with the religious right, his example and his extreme abilities to persuade.

His analytical thinking sees things in so many shades of grey....At some point he must have known of the deception, and knew that the only reason he keeps getting the job is when the votes are rigged.

The spotlight relishes in a certain kind of worship of his thinking, and his views. And through out history there has always been someone like him with this background.

Misinformed and misaligned is not always incompetent.

[kcwayne]

9. I am judging his mental competence on two things

1) What he says, which is incomprehensible. He cannot articulate an idea, and he cannot use language to express himself. He cannot even read a teleprompter with any competence.

2) His writings. There are none.

Bush is a sock puppet and merely a shill for the people that are running the government.

This clown was plucked from a drunken stupor and propped up by powerbrokers who have packaged him into an image that sells to an incurious demographic. He is not the creator of the evil, he is doing what he is told.

Ask yourself, what single idea has Bush tried to express (with his handlers correcting the language or interpretation for a compliant and incurious media) that was not already on a right wing talking point list or position paper? He is mouthing the policy positions of PNAC who were on the scene 15 years before him, he is channeling the religous schlock of Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham, and he is doing the bidding of corporations that have been camped out in Washington since Washington was president.

[mopaul]

11. he's dumber than shit, don't misunderestimate bush

from the first time i saw him speak i knew he was basically mentally handicapped. my dad has severe dyslexia, and speaks much the same way, with great effort, but fragmented.

he is mentally UNFIT to be the president on every level. i want a president who is a whole lot smarter than me, not dumber than a 14 year old.

but on one wants to admit it, or even talk about it, like so many other things surrounding lord bush.

[Redstone]

19. Very, very well said.

This is a guy who has never had an original thought in his entire life.

Redstone

[dbt]

6. Props, mo.

Y'ever hear Chris Rock's rant about a cure for AIDS? "Man, they ain't gonna cure no AIDS. They don't make no money off the CURE, they make money off of sellin' drugs!" (That's a real poor approximation of what he said, but he damn sure nailed it.)

You're bang-on about the wonder of polio ENDING on a particular date. Given the profit motive and shareholder-protecting of gigundo pharmaceutical corporations, what do you bet we'll never see ANOTHER end date for ANY disease again?

:thumbsup:

[Cuban_Liberal]

7. What I found very touching about the FDR biography:

While FDR did hide his disability in public, he did not hide it when visiting veterans in the hospitals; although he never said why, I prefer to believe that it was to show these men (and women) that it was still possible to achieve great things, even with a physical disability, and to give them hope and inspration at a very dark time in their lives.

[demnan]

10. I enjoyed reading

Bartcop's recent issue about Julius Youngner. I recommend it to anyone.

You overcome your disabilities beautifully with your talent.

[Mandate My Ass]

12. recommended

Blessings, mo, for the hard road you've been travelling and your grace and openness about it.

[Redstone]

20. And also for your artistic ability. Great stuff!

Redstone

[indepat]

13. Mopaul, my wife had polio at nine months of age in August 1935 and is

totally paralyzed in the right shoulder: our pediatrician, an intern at Charity Hospital during the last major polio epidemic, said two of three then died from polio of her type doing so much damage so close to the brain. I tip my hat to both of you.

[mopaul]

14. could have been even worse

it could do so many awful things to people, and killed millions.

she's been fighting a lot longer than me, and a tip of the hat to you too, it takes a special person.

[Ironpost]

15. Since I have been coming to DU I've always felt you were

someone special and thanks for sharing this with us. I'm a 1948 model and I would like to share this with you. My 4th through 6th grade teacher was afflicted with polio as a young girl, Mary Ruth was her name, she would never allow us kids to call her by her last name, she just wanted to fit in with us and did quite well at that. Us kids never seen her as handicapped we only seen her as the teacher who made learning seem so easy, we seen her as the teacher that played softball with us in spite of her disabilities, we seen her for the kind and loving person she was. We learned much about compassion, caring and loving from her. I'm sure that all 20 or so of us kids will go to our graves with very fond memories of her and a very deep appreciation for her teaching us so much.
Come to think of it I have learned so much from you as well. Go far and never look back except for strength. I as well as the rest here can't wait to read your next post, if not entertaining so insightful. Keep up the good fight for we must win, our children depend on it.

[fujiyama]

16. It was

a surprisingly evenhanded documentary for the most part (though there were a few annoying gasbags full of RW talking points I could have done without).

The parts about FDR and his polio were among the most interesting. It painted the most human portrait of him and mostly an admirable one as well. I was especially impressed with the money and time he put into that place in GA where they had physical therapy and other things for those with polio.

[leftofthedial]

17. was Pearl Harbor really a LIHOP?

[Bridget Burke]

21. No.

But the FDR haters said it was.

[cmd]

18. A fellow retired teacher had polio in the 50's

She was visiting St. Louis to watch her uncle pitch a major league game. During the visit she became ill and was unable to return home for two years. She spent months in an iron long. Both of her legs are muscle damaged, one eye is pulled in an odd position and she has a tracheotomy scar.

Her physical therapy is swimming. She has taught hundreds of kids in our community to swim. I don't think I have ever met a more determined person when it comes to overcoming handicaps. She will go out of her way to make handicapped children see potential.

This great person is no longer my best friend. She has become a right wing fundimentalist who is very judgemental of others. I have been hurt by her many times as she will invite me to join her in an activity, then walk away when one of her wealthy fundie friends appear on the scene. Her goodness only goes so far.

A question for you Mopaul: Were you in an iron lung?

[mopaul]

22. no iron lung

luckily, but i knew a few kids who were. atrophied left leg, spinal curviture, motorized chair now, and post polio syndrome.

i was one of the very lucky ones. i saw hundreds of kids in the hospitals, who were oh so unlucky.