Polio's Legacy: An Oral History

Abstract

Reviewed by: Polio’s Legacy: An Oral History Daniel J. Wilson Edmund J. Sass, with George Gottfried and Anthony Sorem. Polio’s Legacy: An Oral History. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1996. xviii + 278 pp. $57.00 (cloth), $28.50 (paperbound). Polio’s Legacy is a collection of thirty-five narratives of individuals who contracted polio between 1925 and 1959. Edited by Edmund J. Sass, a professor of education and a polio survivor, it provides a window into the experience of having had one of the most feared epidemic diseases of the twentieth century. Sass frames the individual narratives with a short introduction and conclusion. His introduction—based largely on John R. Paul, A History of Poliomyelitis (1971), and Jane Smith, Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vaccine (1990)—provides a brief review of what is known about poliomyelitis, its history as an epidemic disease in the twentieth century, and the emergence of post-polio syndrome in the 1980s. Sass’s conclusion highlights several themes that emerge in the narratives. Neither breaks new ground for the scholar, but they are helpful for the reader who knows little about the disease. The value of the volume for the historian lies in the thirty-five personal accounts. Concerned that the stories of polio survivors were being lost as the population aged, Sass worked through the Sister Kenny Institute to identify individuals willing to recount their histories. Most of those interviewed now live in the upper Midwest. They were asked questions designed to elicit their recollections of the onset of polio, their hospitalization, recovery, and rehabilitation, and their subsequent lives, including the late effects of polio. The transcripts were lightly edited for readability. Sass divides the narratives into ten somewhat arbitrary chapters, including experience with Sister Kenny, iron lungs and wheelchairs, scoliosis, surgery, braces, adult polio, and late effects. Each chapter opens with a brief headnote. Since the narratives are presented in their entirety, it is not always clear why they are placed in a particular chapter. For example, all of the individuals with scoliosis also wore braces and had surgery. For the historian, the volume provides a collective memory of the experience of polio. These personal accounts highlight the fears associated with the polio epidemics. They recall the chaos and the shortages of beds, iron lungs, and nurses that often accompanied a serious epidemic. These survivors remember the long, lonely days in isolation hospitals cut off from parents, family, and friends, and the weeks and months in rehabilitation hospitals seeking to recover strength and movement. Many wore heavy braces for years and endured numerous operations designed to compensate for wasted muscles. In and out of hospitals, these children and young adults attempted to get on with their schooling, make friends, find jobs, and fit into a society that had not yet heard of accommodation. It is clear that it was the polio survivor who was expected to make any accommodations. Almost all found ways to overcome their disability, marry, have a career, and minimize their physical limitations until the onset of the late effects of polio some twenty to thirty years after the acute attack. These are largely positive accounts by men and women who overcame often severe physical disabilities [End Page 575] to make good lives for themselves and their families. Even the painful return of muscle weakness and fatigue associated with post-polio syndrome does not dampen their sense of accomplishment. The story of the scientists, physicians, and fund-raisers who conquered polio by the 1960s has been often told. The narratives in Polio’s Legacy suggest the possibilities for another kind of history, a history of the epidemics focused on the experience of those who had the disease. That history lies beyond the scope of Sass’s volume, but he has given historians valuable biographical accounts that can contribute to that as-yet-untold story. Daniel J. Wilson Muhlenberg College Copyright © 1998 The Johns Hopkins University Press