List of poliomyelitis survivors
Encyclopedia
This is a list of notable people who have survived the infectious disease poliomyelitis. Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...

 (often simply called polio) is an acute viral
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...

 infection
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...

 that involves the gastrointestinal tract
Gastrointestinal tract
The human gastrointestinal tract refers to the stomach and intestine, and sometimes to all the structures from the mouth to the anus. ....

 and occasionally the central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...

. Poliovirus
Poliovirus
Poliovirus, the causative agent of poliomyelitis, is a human enterovirus and member of the family of Picornaviridae.Poliovirus is composed of an RNA genome and a protein capsid. The genome is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome that is about 7500 nucleotides long. The viral particle is...

 is acquired by faecal-oral
Fecal-oral route
The fecal-oral route, or alternatively, the oral-fecal route or orofecal route is a route of transmission of diseases, in which they are passed when pathogens in fecal particles from one host are introduced into the oral cavity of another potential host.There are usually intermediate steps,...

 or oral transmission. Prior to the introduction of a vaccine
Polio vaccine
Two polio vaccines are used throughout the world to combat poliomyelitis . The first was developed by Jonas Salk and first tested in 1952. Announced to the world by Salk on April 12, 1955, it consists of an injected dose of inactivated poliovirus. An oral vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin...

 in 1955, infection was common, with epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

s during the summer and autumn of temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 countries. An eradication
Poliomyelitis eradication
The global eradication of poliomyelitis is a public health effort to eliminate all cases of poliomyelitis infection around the world. The global effort, begun in 1988 and led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and The Rotary Foundation, has reduced the number of annual diagnosed cases from...

 programme has reduced the number of reported polio cases worldwide by more than 99% since the mid-1980s. Most infections are asymptomatic
Asymptomatic
In medicine, a disease is considered asymptomatic if a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms. A condition might be asymptomatic if it fails to show the noticeable symptoms with which it is usually associated. Asymptomatic infections are also called subclinical...

; a small number cause a minor illness that is indistinguishable from many other viral illnesses; less than 1% result in acute flaccid paralysis. The extent of paralysis varies from part of a limb to quadriplegia
Quadriplegia
Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms...

 and respiratory failure
Respiratory failure
The term respiratory failure, in medicine, is used to describe inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, with the result that arterial oxygen and/or carbon dioxide levels cannot be maintained within their normal ranges. A drop in blood oxygenation is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial...

. The latter was often treated with an iron lung
Iron lung
A negative pressure ventilator is a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability....

 until, it was hoped, the patient recovered. Around 30–40 years after contracting paralytic poliomyelitis, about 25–40% of cases lead to post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome is a condition that affects approximately 25–50% of people who have previously contracted poliomyelitis—a viral infection of the nervous system—after the initial infection. Typically the symptoms appear 15–30 years after recovery from the original paralytic attack, at an age of...

. Symptoms include muscle pain, further weakening of muscles and paralysis.


Surviving paralytic polio can be a life-changing experience. Individuals may be permanently physically disabled
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...

 to varying degrees. Others remember the fear and isolation. Some continue to campaign for polio eradication or disability rights.

Uncontested diagnosis

This categorised alphabetical list contains only those people with a firm and uncontested diagnosis made while still alive.

Acting


Name Life Comments
An actor most famous for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the television series M*A*S*H. Alda contracted polio at age seven, during an epidemic. His parents administered a painful treatment, developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny was an unqualified Australian nurse who promoted a controversial new approach to the treatment of poliomyelitis in the era before mass vaccination eradicated the disease in most countries.-Youth:...

, in which hot woollen blankets were applied to the limbs and the muscles were stretched by massage
Massage
Massage is the manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance function, aid in the healing process, and promote relaxation and well-being. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading", or from Arabic massa meaning "to touch, feel or handle"...

.
1878–1954 A stage, radio and film actor, Barrymore contracted polio in the mid 1930s, which left him using a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

.
1897–1961 An actress who had a relationship with William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

. She caught polio in the 1940s, which affected one of her legs.

|- valign="top"
|
|
| Drury is well known for his portrayal of the title role in the weekly television series, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...

. He survived a bout of polio at the age of 10.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| An actress who was appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2000, and campaigns in the fight against polio. Farrow collapsed on her ninth birthday and was diagnosed with polio two days later. She was in hospital for eight months, where an iron lung
Iron lung
A negative pressure ventilator is a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability....

 maintained her breathing.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1917–2008
| In the early 1940s, Ferrer's career as an actor, film director and Broadway producer was stalled when he contracted polio. Ferrer was ill for a year and resumed work in radio instead of theatre.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1929–2006
| An actress best known for her role as the heroine in the 3-D film
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...

 House of Wax
House of Wax (1953 film)
House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...

. Kirk had polio as a child.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1925–2002
| After a bout with polio in 1932 Knef went on to become an actress, singer and writer.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1918–1995
| A film actress and director, Lupino caught polio in June 1934 and was affected for only a few days.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1918–2002
| An actress who survived a polio infection she caught as an adult.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1947–2006
| Actor and voice actor Tim Rooney is the second son of actor Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...

. He contracted polio as a child and was paralysed for two years.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| An actor best known for his role as Carlo Rizzi in the 1972 movie The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

. He contracted polio at age seven, and spent five years in a state hospital. Russo says, "I made a novena
Novena
In the Catholic Church, a novena is a devotion consisting of a prayer repeated on nine successive days, asking to obtain special graces. The prayers may come from prayer books, or consist of the recitation of the Rosary , or of short prayers through the day...

 that if I ever walked again, I'd light five candles for St. Anthony every day."
|- valign="top"
|
|
| Sutherland contracted polio as a child and developed a love of reading while bedridden. He went on to become an accomplished actor, and has appeared in over 130 films.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| Thaxter contracted polio in 1952. The disease took a toll on her career as an actress, to which she made a slow return—often taking roles that would accommodate a physical challenge.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1925–2000
| An actress and dancer on Broadway and in films. Verdon was encouraged to dance by her mother, a dance teacher, as therapy for her polio-afflicted legs.
|}

Business

Name Life Comments
1909–2007 After a bout of polio as an infant, Bisz went on to become one of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

's first female attorneys
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, eventually winning a number of cases against Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n leader Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

.

|- valign="top"
|
|
| An entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 and founder of the outdoor retailer Cabela's
Cabela's
Cabela's is a direct marketer and specialty retailer of hunting, fishing, camping and related outdoor recreation merchandise, based in Sidney, Nebraska. It also has "Trophy Properties LLC , "Outdoor Adventures" , and the "Gun Library"...

. He has stated that his business was inspired by his bout with polio and a deep love of fishing and hunting.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| Former Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 winner, Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Army Brigadier General, and Republican candidate for Senate, Dawkins contracted polio at age eleven.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| Canadian theatrical producer, contracted polio at age three, and was left with a limp
Limp
A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma however in the absence of trauma other serious causes such as septic arthritis,...

 in his left leg.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1936–2004
| Chairman emeritus of the securities firm Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

, he had to use a cane as a result of polio.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1884–1934
| Founded the Mars
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...

 confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

 company. After contracting polio as a child and unable to play like other children, Mars helped his mother in the kitchen. This led to selling candy after school and, eventually, his own company.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1847–1909
| A toy maker and founder of the Steiff Company, known for its teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...

. She contracted polio, aged 18 months, and lost the use of her legs and had only partial use of her right arm.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1933–2006
| A Baltimore, Maryland lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and prominent sail boat racing skipper, he contracted polio while at college and spent months in an iron lung.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| A businessman and founder of The Washington Companies. He contracted polio when he was eight and recovered well.
|}

Disability rights activists


Name Life Comments
1930–2002 An activist who helped pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009....

. A bout of polio at age 18 left him using a wheelchair.

|- valign="top"
|
| 1945–2004
| A crusader for equality of disabled people, Ducharme contracted polio in 1953. The disease left her a quadriplegic and dependent on a respirator for the rest of her life.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1933–2004
| Author and disability rights advocate, Hugh Gallagher contracted polio at college and subsequently required a wheelchair due to lower-body paralysis. He aided the drafting of the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968
The Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 is an Act of Congress, enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson.The ABA requires that facilities designed, built, altered, or leased with funds supplied by the United States Federal Government be accessible to the public...

.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| Heumann contracted polio when she was 18 months old, and is unable to walk. She became a disability rights activist, co-founding the World Institute on Disability, and served as Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services during the Clinton Administration.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1939–1995
| A disability rights activist who co-founded the World Institute on Disability and was the first severely disabled student to attend the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. At age 14 Roberts contracted polio; he was paralysed and in an iron lung within 24 hours. When told he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life, he "decided to be an artichoke...a little prickly on the outside but with a big heart."
|}

Film, television and radio

Name Life Comments
A television presenter and wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...

 player, Adepitan caught polio, aged six months, in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. His left side is weakened, especially his left leg.
A television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 best known for the comedy series The Office
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...

. While living in Cairo Atalla contracted polio from polluted water when he was six months old. He uses a wheelchair and claims that, although he gets "patronised all the time", he has never "experienced prejudice because of it".
A film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

, and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

. He recalls, "When I was nine I was confined to a room for over a year with polio, and because polio is a child's illness, they kept every other kid away from me. I remember being pinned to this bed, and longing for friends and company."
1920–1990 A radio and television personality, best known as a game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 host. Cullen caught polio at the age of 18 months, leaving him with a permanent limp
Limp
A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma however in the absence of trauma other serious causes such as septic arthritis,...

. He credits this with leading him to a career on radio, where his limp would be hidden.
A film director and producer. He had a bout with polio, aged seven.
Drabinsky contracted polio at age six, which temporarily paralysed his left leg. He became a film and theatrical producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...

, and believes his experience with polio "galvanised [his] spirit and sense of determination".
Radio presenter John Laws contracted polio twice: as a boy and as a young man.
A television reporter and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario is the viceregal representative in Ontario of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United...

. He received the Clarke Institute's 1996 "Courage to Come Back" Award for his battle with polio.
1937–2005 A publishing, media and gaming tycoon who owned the Australian Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

. He contracted polio as a child, spent nine months in an iron lung, and consequently fell behind at school.
Roizman contracted polio at age 13, which ended his dream to be a professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 player. He became a cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

 and has been nominated for five Oscars.
A news anchor on KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. He contracted polio at the age of six months, and was completely paralysed for a time, and now walks with a limp.
Radio and television presenter and English historian, Starkey was born with two club feet
Club foot
A club foot, or congenital talipes equinovarus , is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot appears rotated internally at the ankle. TEV is classified into 2 groups: Postural TEV or Structural TEV....

 and caught polio as an infant. He recalls, "I spent a lot of my infancy in hospital and actually started school in a wheelchair with this enormous plaster, and then into a surgical boot and callipers, none of which helps assimilation with other children."
Later a radio and television personality, Steagall worked as a rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

 bull rider
Bull riding
Bull riding refers to rodeo sports that involve a rider getting on a large bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal attempts to buck off the rider....

 until he contracted polio at age 15. He began playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 as part of his recovery, and has recorded over 200 songs in various genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

s.
A film director, producer and writer. Yu contracted polio, aged eight months. During his slow recovery he developed fantasy worlds to cope with his loneliness.

Music

Name Life Comments
1932–2002 A composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and writer best known for his song Bananas In Pyjamas. Blyton contracted polio in 1947 and learned to play the piano during his two-year convalescence to "demonstrate that the illness wouldn't get the better of him."
1907–1976 A jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 singer who performed with her sisters as "The Boswell Sisters
Boswell Sisters
The Boswell Sisters were a close harmony singing group, consisting of sisters Martha Boswell , Connee Boswell , and Helvetia "Vet" Boswell , noted for intricate harmonies and rhythmic experimentation...

". She contracted polio, aged three, and was left with partially paralysed legs. Boswell used a wheelchair for most of her life.
As a child, singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Judy Collins spent several months in hospital recovering from bout with polio. Collins later became a representative for UNICEF and has worked to promote polio vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...

 programmes.
born 1927 A blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 and singer. After a bout with polio at age nine crippled his hands Davis learned to play the guitar upside down, using a butter knife to help fret the strings, producing a similar sound to a slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...

.
born 1936 Conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 James DePreist contracted polio in 1962 while on tour in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

. Instead of using crutches and braces he conducts sitting down.
}
|
| Folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and guitarist Donovan contracted polio, aged four, from the vaccine he was given. This left him with a limp and feeling excluded. However, he says "I kind of look back on it and think it was positive for me because it made me withdraw from my pals and realise I was different."
|- valign="top"
|
| 1942–2000
| A rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 singer and songwriter, leader of the band "Ian Dury and the Blockheads". His hand and leg were left shrivelled by a bout with polio at age seven. He has campaigned with UNICEF to eradicate polio.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1922–1975
| An actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs
Novelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...

, often in partnership
Flanders and Swann
The British duo Flanders and Swann were the actor and singer Michael Flanders and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann , who collaborated in writing and performing comic songs....

 with Donald Swann
Donald Swann
Donald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...

. He contracted polio in 1943 while serving in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, and required a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1906–1986
| Fournier, later a cellist, began playing the piano as a child. In 1915 he had a mild case of polio, and lost dexterity in his legs and feet. No longer able to master the use of the piano pedals he turned to playing the cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| Haden, a renowned jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 double bassist, began singing in his family's band as a toddler. After a bout with polio at age 15 paralysed his vocal cords and throat, he took up the double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1918–2004
| Trombonist Waldren "Frog" Joseph had polio as an infant, which left him with a permanent limp. He began playing music during his recovery.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1909–1979
| A soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 whose battle with polio and, subsequently, depression at the height of her career, is the subject of the 1955 film Interrupted Melody
Interrupted Melody
Interrupted Melody is a 1955 biographical film which tells the story of Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence's struggle with polio. The film was made by MGM, directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Jack Cummings from a screenplay by Marjorie Lawrence, Sonya Levien, and William Ludwig.The...

.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1924–1997
| Marshall, a soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

, contracted polio at age two and required many operations over ten years to help fix her legs.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1915–1996
| A folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

-blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

 player Sonny Terry
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...

. When McGhee was paralysed due to polio as a child, he constructed a pushcart to get around. The cart was propelled with a stick by his younger brother, Granville "Stick" McGhee
Stick McGhee
Granville Henry McGhee, also known as Stick McGhee, was an African-American jump blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his blues song, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".-Early life:...

.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| A musician, songwriter and painter. Mitchell started singing at age nine while in hospital recovering from polio.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| A jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

. He contracted polio as a child, which paralysed the fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| A virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...

 violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist. He contracted polio at the age of four. Perlman requires braces and crutch
Crutch
Crutches are mobility aids used to counter a mobility impairment or an injury that limits walking ability.- Types :There are several different types of crutches:...

es to walk, and plays the violin seated.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1939–2005
| Best known for his hit pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 song Tell Laura I Love Her
Tell Laura I Love Her
"Tell Laura I Love Her," a teenage tragedy song written by Jeff Barry and Ben Raleigh, was an American Top Ten popular music hit for singer Ray Peterson in 1960 on RCA Victor Records, reaching #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart...

, Peterson started singing while hospitalised with polio.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1925–1991
| A blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 singer and songwriter. He contracted polio as a child, which left him in braces and using crutches. Later, a fall down stairs left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| A jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 saxophonist. He contracted polio, aged three, and spent one year in an iron lung, followed by two years in bed. He was advised to learn a wind instrument to help with his recovery. Sanborn is now affected by post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome is a condition that affects approximately 25–50% of people who have previously contracted poliomyelitis—a viral infection of the nervous system—after the initial infection. Typically the symptoms appear 15–30 years after recovery from the original paralytic attack, at an age of...

.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1916–1994
| A big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 singer, actress and talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

 host. Shore contracted polio, aged 18 months, which left her right leg crippled. She recovered strength through massage, swimming and tennis.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1917–1992
| A cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 and jazz singer, Syms had polio as a child.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1922–2004
| Tebaldi, a soprano, contracted polio at age three, which caused her difficulty walking. During this experience she discovered music, which she said saved her life.
|- valign="top"
|
|
| This reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 band was formed after the three founding members met at the Mona Rehabilitation Centre in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

 in the 1950s. Member Albert "Apple Gabriel" Craig said of his bout with polio, "It take a lot from me outta life, but at the same time it give me much more in life".
|- valign="top"
|
|
| A singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and guitarist. He caught polio at age five, during the epidemic of 1951.
|}

Politics

Name Life Comments
1909–2004 A businessman and former governor of Minnesota
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...

. He contracted polio, aged nine, and was confined to bed. Andersen eventually made a good recovery but in his eighties, he was affected by post-polio syndrome. He believed that polio had a positive psychological impact on him and increased his determination.
Former leader of the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. He contracted polio, aged five.
1910–2003 Former Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. He contracted polio during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. Bennett walked with a cane.
1911–2005 Queensland, Australia's longest serving Premier
Premiers of the Australian states
The Premiers of the Australian states are the de facto heads of the executive governments in the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia. They perform the same function at the state level as the Prime Minister of Australia performs at the national level. The territory equivalents to the...

, Joh contracted polio at age nine, which left him with a limp.
1929–2003 A North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 politician, Boyles had hoped to become a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

, but was struck by polio as a teenager. After spending a year in hospital he went into public service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 instead.
A Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. He was unfortunate to miss out on the 1954 Salk
Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He was born in New York City to parents from Ashkenazi Jewish Russian immigrant families...

 vaccine trials that his paediatrician
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...

 father was helping with and that his brother benefited from—he was not in the appropriate age-group. Cohen caught polio that year, aged five, and was ill for three months. He still walks with a limp and has problems with his balance.
1930–2000 A writer, broadcaster and Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 Member of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. He contracted polio in his youth and was much later affected by paralysis from post-polio syndrome.
1909–1968 Elected Mayor of San Diego in 1955, Dail, who had had polio, helped to establish the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a premier independent, non-profit, scientific research institute located in La Jolla, California. It was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among the founding consultants were Jacob Bronowski and Francis Crick. Building...

.
1883–1916 Although he was left lame after a bout of polio in 1911, Mac Diarmada was involved in several Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 separatist organisations including Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...

, and was one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

.
1931–1986 Former Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. He caught polio in 1955 while serving as a lieutenant in the United States Marines.
Politician and former Senior Vice President of American Tobacco Company
American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...

. He caught polio from his son's oral vaccination, which left his legs paralysed.
Presiding Justice
Chief judge
Chief Judge is a title that can refer to the highest-ranking judge of a court that has more than one judge. The meaning and usage of the term vary from one court system to another...

 of the California Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One. He caught polio while in high school during a 1950s polio epidemic.
Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 from 2003 to 2006. He caught polio in 1946, which paralysed his throat, and took almost a year to fully recover.
1903–1992 A politician, and father of Paul Martin (the former Prime Minister of Canada). He contracted polio in 1907 and was left with a slight limp. Martin was Minister of Health and Welfare when the Salk
Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He was born in New York City to parents from Ashkenazi Jewish Russian immigrant families...

 vaccine was conducting field trials. His personal family experience of polio made him determined to continue the trial, even after a setback where 79 children caught polio from the vaccine.
A Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 and current Senate Minority Leader. He contracted polio at age two resulting in a paralyzed left leg, but eventually recovered with physical therapy.
A business executive and former United States Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...

. Both McNamara and his wife contracted polio in August 1945. He was in hospital for a couple of months but his wife was badly affected and remained there for nine months. His career change from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 professor to the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 was made to pay her hospital bills.
Grace Padaca is the current governor of the northern Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 province of Isabela. A bout of polio at age three left her using crutches; Padaca often declares: "My weakness is my strength".
A politician from the state of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, Paulus contracted polio at age nineteen. After her recovery, she moved to Salem
Salem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...

 where she became a legal secretary
Legal secretary
A legal secretary is a particular category of worker within the legal profession.In the practice of law in the United States, a legal secretary is person who works in the legal profession, typically assisting lawyers. Legal secretaries help by preparing and filing legal documents, such as appeals...

.
1927–2001 Prior to his run as a Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Richmond (Surrey)
Richmond (Surrey) (UK Parliament constituency)
Not to be confused with the Richmond constituency in Yorkshire.Richmond was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Richmond, which is in the north-western part of the historic county of Surrey and in South London...

, Royle, the Baron Fanshawe of Richmond, was an officer in the SAS
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...

. In 1950, he shipped out for Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

. En route, he contracted polio and had to be left in Malaysia where spent a year fighting for his life in an iron lung
Iron lung
A negative pressure ventilator is a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability....

. He survived, but the disease left him with a permanent limp.
1920–2005 Scheuer was a millionaire real-estate developer and served 13 terms (1965 to 1993) as a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. During World War II he served as an Army Air Force flight instructor, after which he developed symptoms of polio and used a cane for the rest of his life.
A Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 since 1977, Skelton developed polio as a child. During his recovery he developed a love of history. In 2004 Skelton sponsored a resolution
Resolution (law)
A resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. For long or important motions, though, it is often better to have them written out so that discussion is easier or so that it can be...

 honouring the life and legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

.
1904–1988 A British solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

 who later became a Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

, Wade suffered from polio as a child.
1917–2009 A Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Plymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2010, the population was 494,919. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton...

 District court
Courts of Massachusetts
Before 1978, all trial courts except the Land Court were county or local courts funded through the counties. The Massachusetts Trial Court was created by Chapter 478 of the Acts of 1978 that reorganized the courts into seven Trial Court Departments...

 judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 from 1956 to 1979. Prior to that, she served three terms as a state representative from 1950 to 1956. During her campaign for the Legislature in 1950 she was stricken with polio and was bedridden for three months. Sitting in a wheelchair, she was sworn into office in January 1951.
1909–1984 A prominent Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...

 civic leader, and chairman of the Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, Watson lost the use of both legs when he contracted polio at the age of 19 months.
Gavin Woods is a South African political figure who contracted polio as a baby. He overcame the many obstacles posed by the effects of the disease to become a member of parliament, among other achievements.
Hee Yit Foong
Hee Yit Foong
Hee Yit Foong is a Malaysian politician who is infamous for her role in the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis by resigning from the Democratic Action Party which she represented in the Malaysia General Election in 2008 and becoming an independent aligned with the ruling Barisan Nasional...

 was the first non-Malay, disabled woman, to become the deputy speaker of a Malaysian legislative body, the Dewan Undangan Negeri
Dewan Undangan Negeri
A state legislative assembly is the legislature of each of the 13 Malaysian states. Members of a state legislative assembly comprises elected representatives from single-member constituencies during state elections through the first-past-the-post system....

 of Perak. She carries a limp from a case of polio she contracted at the age of 4.

Science and medicine

Name Life Comments
1901–1965 A scientist, inventor, and television pioneer, DuMont developed polio at age 11. While recovering from polio he began experimenting with electronics by building a radio transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...

 and receiver
Receiver (radio)
A radio receiver converts signals from a radio antenna to a usable form. It uses electronic filters to separate a wanted radio frequency signal from all other signals, the electronic amplifier increases the level suitable for further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through...

 out of an oatmeal box.
1901–1980 A psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

 who was influential in the modern practice of hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...

 and psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

. He contracted polio, aged 17, and was almost completely paralysed for a time. Erickson regarded his lengthy recovery as a learning experience. Later, post-polio syndrome paralysed his legs and an arm.
1919–2003 A physiologist noted for his work on cardiology
Cardiology
Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...

. He contracted polio in 1946 during his final year of medical residency training. Guyton's shoulders, left arm and right leg were paralysed. During nine months of recovery, he built many devices to aid the handicapped, for which he received a Presidential Citation. He remained severely crippled and could only walk with difficulty.
1810–1894 cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....

. Around age two, Little was infected with poliomyelitis which caused a deformed foot. He decided to enter the medical profession, with the intention of finding a cure for his foot.
>- valign="top"
1905–1980 The first female aircraft designer
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...

 in the world, MacGill was afflicted with polio at the age of 24. Although her disability brought an end to her dream of becoming a pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

, she insisted on going on all flight test
Flight test
Flight test is a branch of aeronautical engineering that develops and gathers data during flight of an aircraft and then analyzes the data to evaluate the flight characteristics of the aircraft and validate its design, including safety aspects...

s in order to best assess her aircraft designs.
1889–1944 A mechanical engineer and chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

, Midgley developed chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and leaded gasoline, and held over a hundred patents. He contracted polio at age 51, which left him severely disabled, and caused him to lose a leg. To help himself get out of bed, Midgley designed a system of ropes and pulleys; he died of strangulation in 1944 after becoming tangled in the ropes of his apparatus.
1915–2005 A physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 and protégé of Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Oppenheimer
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Along with Enrico Fermi, he is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project, the World War II project that developed the first...

, Morrison worked on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...

 early in his career. He contracted polio at the age of four, which left him partly handicapped, but also stimulated a love of science.
1844-1921 "One of the finest mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

s of the nineteenth century", Noether studied algebraic geometry
Algebraic geometry
Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which combines techniques of abstract algebra, especially commutative algebra, with the language and the problems of geometry. It occupies a central place in modern mathematics and has multiple conceptual connections with such diverse fields as complex...

. He contracted polio at the age of 14 which left him permanently handicapped.
1928–2004 A physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, Rue contracted polio from a patient in 1954 (she was the last person in Oxford, England to get the disease). The disease left her with one useless leg but motivated her to become a champion for women in medicine.
1915–2002 Schwartz, a mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

, had a childhood brush with polio.
1897–1991 Siebert contracted polio as a young child, and was left with a slight limp. She went on to develop the Tuberculin
Tuberculin
Tuberculin is the name given to extracts of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. bovis, or M. avium that is used in skin testing in animals and humans to identify a tuberculosis infection. Several types of tuberculin have been used for this, of which purified protein derivative is the most important....

 antigen
Antigen
An antigen is a foreign molecule that, when introduced into the body, triggers the production of an antibody by the immune system. The immune system will then kill or neutralize the antigen that is recognized as a foreign and potentially harmful invader. These invaders can be molecules such as...

 used in the standard Tuberculosis test
Mantoux test
The Mantoux test is a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis. It is one of the two major tuberculin skin tests used in the world, largely replacing multiple-puncture tests such as the Tine test...

.
1906–2004 Whipple became an astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

 after a mild bout of polio thwarted his dream of becoming a professional tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player. He is best known for his "dirty snowball" model of comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...

s.
1914–2000 A sociologist, Whyte's specialty was his study of Boston's North End
North End, Boston, Massachusetts
The North End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It has the distinction of being the city's oldest residential community, where people have lived continuously since it was settled in the 1630s. Though small , the neighborhood has approximately 100 eating establishments, and a variety of...

 gangs. He caught polio in 1943. After two years of rehabilitation at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, Whyte continued his field research; conducting all of his interviews with the aid of braces, crutches and cane.

Sports

Name Life Comments
The first American female figure skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 world champion and Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 champion. She caught polio, aged 11, and was isolated in hospital for a while. Albright later became a surgeon and helped with the international polio eradication effort through the World Health Assembly.
1918–2000 After a bout of polio during his first year of college ended his football-playing career, Blackman became a college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 in 1987.
1902–1978 A triple Olympic gold medallist in the freestyle swimming
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 events. At age 16, she took up swimming to help recover from a bout of polio. Shortly afterwards, Bleibtrey competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....

 in Antwerp.
A cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who specialised in leg spin
Leg spin
Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action, causing the ball to spin from right to left in the cricket pitch, at the point of delivery. When the ball bounces, the spin causes the ball to deviate sharply from right to left, that...

. At age five his right arm was withered by a bout of polio. Chandrasekhar used his right hand for bowling which led to his distinctive style.
An Olympic gold medallist in the high jump
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....

, and later a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player in the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

. He caught polio, aged nine, and could not walk for three years.
1923–2006 Stricken with polio at age three, Davis was left crippled from the waist down until he was five. He recovered but his legs remained slightly different lengths. Davis went on to become a successful amateur boxing
Amateur boxing
Amateur boxing is practised at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, and in many other venues sponsored by amateur boxing associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration and fighters wear head protection, so this type of competition prizes point-scoring rather...

 coach and served on the U.S. Olympic boxing
Boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place in the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. The boxing schedule began on July 29 and ended on August 11. Twelve men's boxing events were contested.-Light Flyweight :...

 committee. He was also an executive, a civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 leader, and campaigned as Minneapolis's first black mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

al candidate in 1971.
Dore served as the head of the Canadian Figure Skating Association for 17 years. He was introduced to figure skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 as a child while recovering from polio.
1873–1937 Track and field
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

 athlete Ray Ewry contracted polio as a child, and he used a wheelchair for a while. He devised his own exercises to strengthen his legs. Ewry went on to become one of the most successful Olympic athletes of all time, winning 10 gold medals in standing jump events.
A former ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 defenceman
Defenceman (ice hockey)
Defence in ice hockey is a player position whose primary responsibility is to prevent the opposing team from scoring...

 in the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

, Gadsby contracted polio at age 24 while at a training camp. Fortunately, he was able to recover quickly and his hockey season was uninterrupted.
The long-time former American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 of the Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

 of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 for eighteen seasons. He caught polio as a child, leaving one leg shortened. He was advised to take up sport as therapy.
An Olympic dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...

 silver medallist. She caught polio, aged 23, while pregnant. Hartel was left permanently paralysed below the knees but was able to compete again after three years of rehabilitation.
A professional golfer
Professional golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...

, Hinston's left arm was affected by a bout with polio as a boy, but it never hindered his golf game.
An Olympic freestyle
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 swimmer in the 1950s and 1960s, Konrads caught a mild case of polio while swimming at the community pool.
Mann caught polio, aged six, and took up swimming to aid her recovery. At the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...

 she won gold and silver medals in butterfly events.
A professional golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

er who has won many major golf championships
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

. He caught polio, aged 13. Nicklaus was affected with stiffness, pain and weight loss over two weeks. He recovered without any paralysis but believes he may have post-polio syndrome, which makes his joints sore. His sister Marilyn also caught polio, possibly from him, and was less fortunate – she was unable to walk for a year.
1940–1994 A track and field athlete, Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals at the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

. At age four, she contracted polio and lost the use of her left leg. After five years of massage and exercises, she managed to walk again without her leg braces. By the time she was a teenager, Rudolph was faster than the boys in her neighbourhood were. Rudolph won a bronze medal, aged 16, at the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...

 and three gold medals in the 1960 Summer Olympics
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...

.
Soares contracted polio as an infant in Portugal, resulting in his use of a wheelchair. At age four, he was sent, alone, from his island home in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

 to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

. There he underwent surgery and spent six months in a body cast. Soares became a well known wheelchair rugby
Wheelchair rugby
Wheelchair rugby, , is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is currently practiced in over twenty countries around the world and is a Paralympic sport....

 player and coach. His story is, in part, the subject of the 2005 documentary film, Murderball.
1925–1983 A Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...

 and outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

. He caught non-paralytic polio during August 1955 and was in hospital for 20 days.

Visual arts

Name Life Comments
1932–2002 A graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...

 and typographer, Banks is well known for his British Telecom and Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...

 brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

ing designs. He went into the graphic design business after a bout of polio left him with a permanent limp and put an end to his promising career as a long-distance runner.
1917–2003 A designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

, sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

, and artist best known for his film prop
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...

s. He caught polio, aged 21, which paralysed his legs for nine months. Using leg braces and crutches, he started walking again. Chang was affected by post-polio syndrome in 1992.
Flugelman contracted polio at the age of 28, which left him partly crippled. His disability actually motivated him to move from painting to a more physically demanding career as a sculptor.
1919–1991 An architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

, Gores was struck with polio in 1951, which left him in a wheelchair. He went on to design several buildings in the area of New Canaan, Connecticut
New Canaan, Connecticut
New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, northeast of Stamford, on the Fivemile River. The population was 19,738 according to the 2010 census.The town is one of the most affluent communities in the United States...

.
1907–1954 A painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 who was the subject of a 2002 movie starring Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...

. She caught polio, aged six, and spent several months in bed. Kahlo was left with a deformed and shortened right leg.
1895–1965 A photographer and photojournalist most noted for her picture Migrant Mother. She caught polio, aged seven, and was left with a withered right lower leg and a limp. Lang said, "It was perhaps the most important thing that happened to me. It formed me, guided, instructed me, helped me, and humiliated me. All those things at once. I've never gotten over it and am aware of the force and power of it."
1929–2000 Tanaquil LeClerq was a prima ballerina for the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...

. She was forced to give up dancing when she contracted polio in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 in 1956 and was paralysed from the waist down.
1903–1970 Lewis caught polio as a child, which severely reduced her mobility; she could only raise her neck with great difficulty. Despite barely being able to hold a paintbrush, she became a well known Folk artist.
A photographer and documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

maker, Snowdon caught polio at age 16. He was married to The Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....

 from 1960 to 1978, and established the Snowdon Award Scheme in 1981 to financially help disabled students.
1930–2004 An architect and academic. At age 12 he caught polio, which paralysed him from the chest down. He remained in hospital for two years and thereafter required a back brace or surgical belt.
1911–1990 Ruskin Spear, famous for his paintings of London, was disabled by polio as a child and attended Brook Green School for afflicted children; where he first displayed a talent for art. He became a successful painter and went on to teach at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

.
1911–1995 An industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...

er. He caught polio, aged eight, and had difficulty walking for a time. He retained a limp and some stiffness. Some symptoms returned in old-age, causing him to require a wheelchair.
1894–1972 After a bout with polio in childhood, Weston graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and became an influential modernist painter.
1907–1997 A portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 artist. She caught polio as a child, which crippled her right hand. She compensated by holding the paint brush between her first and second fingers.

Writing

Name Life Comments
1873–1947 A writer who is remembered for his early science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

. He was crippled by polio in childhood.
The vice president and former executive editor of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

. He caught polio, aged 14, and was paralysed for several months. Bradlee believes the experience made him a different person.
A comedian, best known for co-writing the Beginners' Guides column in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

magazine. He caught polio, aged four months, after receiving the oral polio vaccine. He was in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

 for two weeks and is now a wheelchair-user.
Film critic, writer and actor, Briggs contracted polio in childhood and was left with a pronounced limp.
1933–2005 A financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and publisher especially concerning the British aristocracy. He was affected by polio for much of his life.
1917–2008 A science-fiction author and inventor. He contracted polio in February 1962, which confined him to bed for months. In 1984, he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, and he spent the last years of his life in a wheelchair.
A journalist whose memoir, The Broken Boy recalls his childhood in 1950s Ireland when he caught polio, aged six.
1908–1973 Creasey contracted polio in childhood, and had to re-learn to walk at age six. He went on to become an accomplished author, publishing 560 books under several different pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

s.
1890–1969 A writer most famous for her Just William
Just William
Just William is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books which was the basis for numerous television series, films and radio adaptations...

humorous short stories. She caught polio in 1923 and lost the use of her right leg. When it became physically too hard to continue her teaching career she gave it up to concentrate on writing. Crompton believed that she had "a much more interesting life because of [her polio attack]".
1935–1979 A British novelist known for his historical fiction, most notably his Empire Trilogy. Farrell contracted polio in 1956 while studying at Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

 and was forced to spend an extended time in an iron lung in order to breathe. This experience became the basis of his second novel, The Lung.
An author whose work include essays and memoirs on the subject of disability. He caught polio, aged eleven, which left him without the use of his legs.
1931–2000 After battling polio as a teenager, Levi went on to become—among other things—a professor of poetry at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, a Jesuit priest, and the author of over 40 books.
1902–1984 A writer best known for his autobiography I Can Jump Puddles. He caught polio, aged six, and walked with crutches afterwards.
1937–2009 Mason was affected with polio at age 11 and spent the remainder of her life in an iron lung
Iron lung
A negative pressure ventilator is a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability....

. She wrote a memoir, Breath: Life in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung, which was published in 2003.
An author of fiction and non-fiction books. She caught polio, aged four, and spent several months in an iron lung.
A journalist and former editor of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

. He caught polio shortly after his dad, who died in a couple of days. Preston needed an iron lung to survive and was frequently in hospital for the next 18 months. His limbs were permanently affected as a result.
1861–1925 A writer best known for his trilogy on Iowa pioneers: Vandemark's Folly, The Hawkeye and The Invisible Woman. Childhood polio deformed his feet restricting him indoors where he developed a love of reading.
A journalist and speaker on disabled rights. Ramakrishna was paralysed by polio, aged two, and walks with leg braces.
1883–1938 A Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

 educator, poet and pioneer. She caught polio, aged thirteen, and was confined to bed for months. The illness left her fingers crippled and her spine curved.
Currently Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature and Professor of English at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Shell's books in disability studies include works about paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...

 and stuttering
Stuttering
Stuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...

. Salk's vaccine came too late. September 1953: He began first grade at Van Horne School in Montreal. October 14: He contracted polio. It was the same day that the foundation backed Jonas Salk's proposal to test his vaccine.
An author, most noted for her novel Cracking India
Cracking India
Cracking India, is a novel by author Bapsi Sidhwa.Sidhwa's novel deals with the partition of India and its aftermaths. This is the first novel by a female novelist from Pakistan which describes the fate of people in Lahore...

, which tells of the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

 through the eyes of a young girl affected with polio. Sidhwa caught polio, aged two, which paralysed her leg and led to several operations. Doctors advised her parents not to send her to school; she had a lonely childhood, filled with reading.
1907–2000 Well known cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 writer and broadcaster E.W. Swanton developed polio while held as a POW in the forced labour camp
Unfree labour
Unfree labour includes all forms of slavery as well as all other related institutions .-Payment for unfree labour:If payment occurs, it may be in one or more of the following forms:...

s of the Thai-Burma railway during World War II. He was left with a withered left shoulder and upper arm.
Tonks, a poet, was paralysed by polio for two months.
1908–1981 A journalist and editor of The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

. Tynerman contracted polio at the age of three, which left his legs completely paralysed. He was eventually able to walk with the assistance of leg callipers and walking stick
Walking stick
A walking stick is a device used by many people to facilitate balancing while walking.Walking sticks come in many shapes and sizes, and can be sought by collectors. Some kinds of walking stick may be used by people with disabilities as a crutch...

s, and once said that "The ambition and pride of the disabled, as I have some reason to know, is to stand on their own feet."
1923–2007 The author of several crime novels and movie novelisations, Waller contracted polio as a child and read avidly during his recovery.
1918–2001 A newspaper columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....

 based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. In 1946 Watson survived a bout with polio; he got the disease while working as a sportswriter for the Seattle Star
Seattle Star
The Seattle Star was a daily newspaper that ran from February 25, 1899, to August 13, 1947. It was owned by E.W. Scripps and in 1920 was transferred to Scripps McRae League of Newspapers , after a falling-out within the Scripps family...

.
1932–2007 A writer best known as the co-author of The Illuminatus! Trilogy
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex-, and magick-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both...

. He caught polio, aged four, and was treated by the method devised by Sister Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny was an unqualified Australian nurse who promoted a controversial new approach to the treatment of poliomyelitis in the era before mass vaccination eradicated the disease in most countries.-Youth:...

. In later years, he was affected with post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome is a condition that affects approximately 25–50% of people who have previously contracted poliomyelitis—a viral infection of the nervous system—after the initial infection. Typically the symptoms appear 15–30 years after recovery from the original paralytic attack, at an age of...

 and was an advocate of the medical use of marijuana
Medical cannabis
Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...

 to treat his symptoms.

Miscellaneous

Name Life Comments
A retired schoolteacher who caught polio in 1948. While in hospital, she designed the game Candyland to entertain the children recuperating from polio.
A former priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 and theologian, Fox caught polio, aged 12, and spent nearly a year regaining the use of his legs.
1900–2002 A German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 philosopher, Gadamer contracted polio in 1922; he was confined to bed and quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

d for several months, during which time he read extensively.
1927-2000 A Marianist brother and professional magician, Br. Hamman contracted polio in 1952. During his 2 year recuperation he focused on learning, practicing and inventing magic tricks, and after which continued to teach and perform from a wheelchair.
The matriarch of the musical Jackson family, she had polio as a baby and walks with a slight limp.
1904–2003 Founder of the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, he contracted polio in 1952 while working in Baluchistan
Baluchistan (Chief Commissioners Province)
The Chief Commissioner's Province of Baluchistan was a province of British India located in the northern parts of the modern Balochistan province.- History :...

. Nicholson was told by specialists that he would always be a cripple, however he was determined to walk again, and recovered with only a limp.
An Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Packer contracted polio at age five.
1897–1997 Parks was a maid at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 for eight administrations (from William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

 to Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

). She was crippled due to an early bout with polio. In 1961 Parks wrote the bestselling memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

 My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House is an autobiographical novel by Lillian Rogers Parks . The memoir was based on Parks' recollections of thirty years as a seamstress in the White House and on childhood memories of her mother's 30...

.
1930–2006 Paralysed below the waist by polio since the age of six, Skolnick was a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

-based activist, conspiracy theorist and founder and chairman of the Citizens Committee to Clean Up the Courts.
1897–1979 A former Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force. In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff, and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff, who were promoted to it on their last day of service. Promotions to the rank have ceased...

. He caught polio, aged three, and was left lame in both legs. He was told he was "totally unfit" for the army or navy but the flying corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

 did not "see why this boy shouldn't perfectly well be able to fly".
1941–1955 Emmett Till was murdered on 28 August 1955 while on vacation in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

. His death sparked an upsurge of activism and resistance that became known as the civil rights movement
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...

. A bout with polio at age five had left him with a persistent stutter.
1922–2005 A ventriloquist and inventor, best known as the voice of Tigger
Tigger
Tigger is a fictional tiger-like character originally introduced in A. A. Milne's book The House at Pooh Corner. Like other Pooh characters, Tigger is based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals...

. He caught polio, aged six, which affected his legs for a while.
1924–1956 Youderian was a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 who worked in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 with the head-shrinking
Shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest...

 Jivaro tribe and was later killed
Operation Auca
Operation Auca was an attempt by five Evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States to bring the gospel to the Huaorani people of the rainforest of Ecuador...

 by Huaorani
Huaorani
The Huaorani, Waorani or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are native Amerindians from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate name Auca is a pejorative exonym used by the neighboring Quechua Indians, and commonly adopted by...

 tribesmen. He was crippled by polio at the age of nine, but recovered to play basketball in high school.

Retrospective diagnosis

The following people were not diagnosed with polio during their lifetime. A retrospective diagnosis
Retrospective diagnosis
A retrospective diagnosis is the practice of identifying an illness in a historical figure using modern knowledge, methods and disease classifications...

 is speculative and can never be certain.
Name Life Comments
}
| 10 BC
10 BC
Year 10 BC was either a common year starting on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday or a leap year starting on Tuesday or Wednesday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

 – 54 AD
| Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 from 41 AD to his death. Historians have attributed his physical ailments to several causes. Robert Graves
Robert Graves
Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...

' Claudius novels made polio a popular choice, but some modern historians prefer cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....

 or some other affliction.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1804–1865
| A painter, best known for his paintings of maritime and nautical subjects. Lane was afflicted with a disorder in childhood, once speculated as being polio, which left him with reduced mobility in his legs. However the notion that polio was responsible for his childhood of mobility have largely been discredited, for contemporary accounts cite that Lane's paralysis was due to "eating some seeds of the apple peru" (referring either to the common tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

 or to the "peru-apple" also known as jimsonweed).
|- valign="top"
|
| 1884–1980
| A child of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

, the 26th President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt. They had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt.- Early Life and Courtship by Theodore Roosevelt :...

. She wore leg braces as a child and it is believed this was due to polio.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1670–1736
| An illegitimate son of the French King Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. It is thought that Louis-Auguste contracted infantile paralysis (polio) at the age of three which left him with a slight limp.
|- valign="top"
|
| 1864–1903
| The first prime minister of the Republic of the Philippines, it is thought that Mabini contracted polio in 1896; he used a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and came to be known as the "Sublime Paralytic".
|- valign="top"
|
| 1771–1832
| A historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

ist and poet. He caught a fever, aged 18 months, which temporarily paralysed his right leg. Scott was left lame due to his withered leg. At the time, polio was not known to medicine. The retrospective diagnosis of polio is considered to be strong due to the detailed account Scott made.
|- valign="top"
|
| reigned 1197 BC – 1191 BC
| An Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

. Siptah's mummy
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...

 has a deformed left leg, with the foot held vertically by a shortened Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...

. Some historians point to polio as a cause, while others prefer a congenital defect such as cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....

.
|}

Doubtful diagnosis

The following people may have had polio, but there is disagreement over it.

Name Life Comments
A former Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 (1993–2003), Chrétien has a distorted mouth and is deaf
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...

 in one ear. His condition was possibly caused by Bell's Palsy
Bell's palsy
Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis resulting from a dysfunction of the cranial nerve VII that results in the inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. Several conditions can cause facial paralysis, e.g., brain tumor, stroke, and Lyme disease. However, if no specific cause...

, or a polio infection as a child.
1897–1945 A politician in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, one of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's closest associates and minister of propaganda. Biographies differ as to the cause of his "club foot
Club foot
A club foot, or congenital talipes equinovarus , is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot appears rotated internally at the ankle. TEV is classified into 2 groups: Postural TEV or Structural TEV....

", which almost certainly was not in fact congenital
Congenital disorder
A congenital disorder, or congenital disease, is a condition existing at birth and often before birth, or that develops during the first month of life , regardless of causation...

. Some mention a case of osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis simply means an infection of the bone or bone marrow...

 at age seven, followed by an operation on his left thigh that left the leg three inches shorter than the right. Others attribute it to poliomyelitis at age four. Goebbels, on one occasion, is reported to have blamed a teenage accident.
1882–1945 The 32nd President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, Roosevelt has been by far the most famous polio survivor in the public mind. However, his age (39 years) and many features of his illness are more consistent with a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome
Guillain-Barré syndrome
Guillain–Barré syndrome , sometimes called Landry's paralysis, is an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy , a disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system. Ascending paralysis, weakness beginning in the feet and hands and migrating towards the trunk, is the most typical symptom...

. See Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness
Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness
Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness began in 1921 at age 39, when Roosevelt got a fever after exercising heavily at a vacation in Canada. While his bout with illness was well known during his terms as President of the United States, the extent of his paralysis was kept from public view. After...

 for more information.
1906–1975 A composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who began to suffer weakness in his right hand in 1958. He was diagnosed with a rare form of polio in 1965, though some contest this diagnosis.

Mistakenly believed to have survived polio

The following people are often reported to have had polio, but their own statements or other evidence contradict this.
Name Life Comments
A Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 pitcher. Commonly reported to be a right-hander who had to learn to play southpaw after an attack of polio in childhood left his right arm weakened and shortened. Daley instead asserts that his right arm and shoulder were damaged at birth when forceps pinched a nerve. A combination of massage and exercises helped restore his limb to health.
1898–1980 A United States Supreme Court Associate Justice
Associate Justice
Associate Justice or Associate Judge is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the United States Supreme Court and some state supreme courts, and for some other courts in Commonwealth...

 for thirty-six years. His various memoirs claim that he nearly died from polio shortly before his second birthday. In the book Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas, biographer Bruce Allen Murphy
Bruce Allen Murphy
Bruce Allen Murphy, Ph.D., is a judicial biographer and scholar of American Constitutional law and politics. He is the Fred Morgan Kirby Professor of Civil Rights at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, a position he has held since 1998...

 argues that it could not have been polio and that this was one of several legends Douglas fabricated.
1887–1975 A swimmer
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 and actress. She is often said to have taken up swimming to strengthen her legs after they were weakened by childhood polio. It was, instead, rickets
Rickets
Rickets is a softening of bones in children due to deficiency or impaired metabolism of vitamin D, magnesium , phosphorus or calcium, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Rickets is among the most frequent childhood diseases in many developing countries...

 that caused weakness and bowing and which meant she had to wear leg braces until the age of seven. Kellerman's biography mentions polio on two occasions. Kellerman met President Roosevelt and devised some exercises for him. She also advised Sister Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny was an unqualified Australian nurse who promoted a controversial new approach to the treatment of poliomyelitis in the era before mass vaccination eradicated the disease in most countries.-Youth:...

, who became famous for her controversial but popular method of treating polio.
1942–2002 An actor best known as Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse is a fictional character in the eponymous series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, as well as the 33-episode 1987–2000 television adaptation of the same name, in which the character was portrayed by John Thaw. Morse is a senior CID officer with the Thames Valley...

. While it is often speculated that Thaw's characteristic limp was from polio, in truth, the limp originated in childhood, when he would copy his grandfather's limp. A car accident later exaggerated the limp.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK