Invisible.Desease

As a young girl of 10, Marilyn Shuler developed polio; a virus which has been virtually eliminated in the United States. However, in the 1940s and '50s, when Marilyn was a girl; polio was an epidemic, affecting thousands of children every summer. Polio was the AIDS of its day, with fear and misunderstanding about contagion. Not only was the disease physically crippling and potentially fatal, but it also carried a tremendous social stigma; mostly because it was associated with poverty.

The stigma was compounded by the forced quarantining of the entire family for three weeks once polio was diagnosed in any member of the household.
The social isolation gave Marilyn empathy with others who; because of the color of their skin, their religion, or other disabilities; were also seen in an unfair way.

"I couldn't go to school because of the stairs; I couldn't climb them.” The lowest point, she says, was when she fell in a class and the teacher refused to help her up.

"If I'm on a scooter, having a hard time, people are courteous because it's very obvious I need help. But I wonder what it would be like if I had a mental disability? I could have walked in, feeling like committing suicide, and no one would know because it's so hidden. It isn't as easy to be of assistance."

So many of us suffer from an ‘invisible disability’. The people around us would be happy to help us but they can’t see the thoughts of suicide that run constantly thru our minds. Those that have been told that such things are happening to others just can’t believe people could think those kind thoughts. Many of us suffer from the ‘polio’ of our day. It is our duty to educate both ourselves and those around us.


http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/homes-for-crippled-children/clip3/

http://microbiology.columbia.edu/PICO/Chapters/History.html