Daniella Metzger

Disease and Discrimination

1/29/99

The tales of thirty-five individuals who were infected by the polio virus starting in the 1920's are greatly illustrated in Edmund J. Sass' Polio's Legacy An Oral History. The author, a survivor of polio himself, begins writing about the biological aspects of this infectious disease, its definition, its history, and its lack of known transmission. He organizes the book into several chapters, containing several accounts of polio survivors stemming from their childhood, leading to the onset of their disease, their hospitalization, and their road to recovery. The author wishes to tell the stories of polio survivors and to aware the readers about the period of time in which these infected individuals had to survive. Sass describes, "[I]t was a time when there was no concern for handicapped rights or accessibility, a time before political correctness, when a person with a physical disability was just a 'cripple'" (xv). Polio's Legacy is a project in which Sass describes what it was like to live with the virus, how society reacted towards the infected individuals' appearance, and the aftereffects of this disease.

Sass interviewed a sample of the surviving 400,000 individuals in the United States infected with polio, and the similarities between their stories is quite amazing. For a disease that is unknown in terms of transmission and spreading, each individual usually caught the virus when one's immune system was weak. They would suddenly wake up with muscle strain, fatigue, stiff necks, or even paralysis. Because there was not a known cure for polio until the Salk vaccine in 1952, and later the Sabin vaccine, this book tells about the hope and struggle to find a cure. The polio outbreak occurred in 1894 in Vermont, the iron lung was constructed to aid one's breathing intake in the 1920's, and Elizabeth Kenney's technique of hot packing, stretching and manipulation of the limbs, began in 1943. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted the virus in 1921, already a vice-presidential candidate, much effort and money was donated for treatment and prevention. In addition, "FDR's crippling illness was to have a major impact on public perceptions of the handicapped, which tended to be very negative" (7). Many people discriminated against the handicapped and little assistance was administered to them.

Because this book tells of personal accounts of the virus, in addition to the history and biological aspects of the disease, many groups of individuals would benefit from reading this book. Those in the medical profession should be aware of the history of this disease since aftereffects of polio are still not determined. Therefore, they will be able to know the history and treatment for this virus. Survivors and their family members of those infected by the virus may feel at ease knowing that others had to survive through the same trauma. In addition, anyone who is unfamiliar with the history of this disease will greatly appreciate the stories of the strong survivors. The only audience who may not benefit from this oral history may be the family and friends of those who died from this illness. They may feel that the stories are not accurate representations of the turmoil and disaster that the infected individuals had to end their lives with. All of those interviewed survived with either Kenney's method, the iron lung, or bravery, and had a second chance to redeem their lives. However, family and friends who were close with those that passed away from the virus, may be insulted if the stories contained in this book are not representative of the dreadful time.

The author did a fine job of addressing the history, onset, and aftereffects of polio. Before providing the stories of thirty-five individuals, he wrote the history behind the disease, the search for a cure, and the hypothesis that it was a disease which broke out in the summer months from raw sewage. He describes this infection as "an inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord" (1). By providing the reader with brief stories of surviving individuals, the author provides insight about the psychological and physical nature of the infected individuals over the course of their lives. Sass is thorough in describing the disease, and because the stories provide personal accounts, the reader can further understand how the infected individual actually fit in with society throughout their illness. In terms of accuracy, he provided the history since the first outbreak of the disease, however, I am still slightly confused of how this disease is contracted and transmitted. According to Sass, this is still unknown.

I think that Polio's Legacy shows different aspects of the disease in terms of the history, treatment, and prevention, and then through the personal accounts of the survivors, it illustrates how society discriminated against them. Many survivors do not remember any kind of discrimination from their peers or the public, however, others do. Those that were enrolled in public schools were not allowed to return until their appearance was satisfactory. One individual had to wait a year to attend school until his walking was further improved and no longer a handicapped individual (27). This same man, Bob Gurney, never received a promotion at work because of his inability to walk well, and was later fired. Another victim, Marilynne Rogers, recalls when a stranger approached her and said, "Oh you poor little girl" (59). Because she was in a wheelchair, many people did not accept handicapped people as normal individuals. Living throughout the 1960's and 1970's, she was heavily discriminated against when a restaurant employee asked her to leave because her disability had bothered some customers. This shows that patients are represented by their diseases, and that their outward appearances are the basis for discrimination in this society.

This was a disease of the mid-1900's when handicapped people were not always accepted, and this infectious diseases was not well known to society. Therefore, many individuals feared this disease and tried to stay away from the infected individuals. Not until an infected person regained full movement in his/her limbs, and looked presentable to the public, that polio lost its representation as a stigmatized disease. Polio's Legacy An Oral History is a great source of information for many audiences who hope to learn more about the disease which struck the United States in the 1900's, and to understand the extent of discrimination towards those infected with the polio virus.

Sass, Edmund J., with George Gottfried, and Anthony Sorem, foreword by Richard Owen. Polio's Legacy An Oral History. Lanham: University Press of America, 1996. (273 pages)