Polio’s Legacy: An Oral History

This study shows readers the reality of polio and how it alters human lives. Thirty-five polio survivors open their hearts to explain their experiences - the day they were diagnosed with polio; their initial hospital stay; the therapy and the treatments that they received; and the effects of polio on their childhood, youth, adulthood and relationships with others. The editor, a polio survivor himself, and two colleagues obtained interviews with these survivors. The result is this written tribute to the survival of the human spirit. The book begins with an introduction to the disease. Next, the stories of the thirty-five interviewees are detailed and arranged into chapters according to the survivors’ common life experiences. Finally, the editor provides a conclusion in hopes of making some sense of polio’s legacy . Readers will see how polio’s legacy reveals itself through these stories. Because these are personal accounts about humans with a disease, they also provide information about others with disabling disorders. Polio’s Legacy should be of interest to those in the medical field and anyone who wants to see the reality of the individual’s fight for life.