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 it outside the house. It was a feat to even move it inside the house.
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Fr. Robert J. Ronald, SJ, Taiwan
Please don't notice only our disabilities. They are the first thing that you see, but they are not the most important thing there is to know about us.
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Sunny Roller
As we celebrate the stunning success of the polio vaccine today, I am honored to help commemorate the anniversary by sharing a very personal perspective with you.
Fifty-three years ago, when I was four years old, I almost died from polio. During the acute phase, I could only move one finger. The rest of me was completely paralyzed.
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Excerpts from the autobiography Not Just Polio: My Life Story of Richard Lloyd Daggett, polio survivor and ventilator user:
July, 1953
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Nancy Baldwin Carter
One day I was running wild through the exhibits at the Thayer County Fair in Nebraska, a typical eleven-year-old shrieking uncontrollably as the Octopus ride tossed me hither and yon, winning a kewpie doll pitching plastic balls through embroidery hoops. The next, I was in bed with the “flu.”
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Travel overseas - or anywhere - can be enjoyable, enriching, enlightening, or a complete disaster if your equipment ends up mutilated or at the wrong destination. You should have the adventures, not your wheelchair.
I have flown with a power scooter and a manual wheelchair, and have accompanied others who traveled with power wheelchairs. Air travel affords you less control over the destiny of your equipment than bus or train travel. But knowledge is power, and the more you know about traveling with equipment, the greater your changes of having a problem-free trip.
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Spirituality has been variously described as a person’s relationship with God, the holy, or the whole; beliefs about the meaning, purpose, or mission of life; feelings of interconnection with the universe or all living things; commitment to values, ideals, and altruism; and being open to the mystery of existence. Spirituality is not necessarily associated with religious membership, but is related to attempts to answer questions about the meaning of life and how humans should live.
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Indicators of coping were first described by Beatrice Wright (1982). Coping individuals focus on what they can do, rather than on what they cannot do; play an active role in their lives, rather than respond as passive victims; and participate in areas of life seen as worthwhile and meaningful. Problems are perceived to be manageable, rather than overwhelming. Personal problems are not kept at the forefront of their attention.
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