Polio kids were taught (the wisdom of the day) to forget about being “cripples” and live a “normal” life.
But there was a lot of tough physiotherapy to be lived through first, along with splints, callipers and plasters.
When Joan (Joan Smith) started school it was my job, as big sister, to go to her class room at the start and finish of lunch time to help her change over her full length straight calliper for a short, below the knee model. That must have felt like freedom – long one for playing, short one for sitting in her special wooden frame.
Just one of the many small steps and stories.
Please click on a picture below to see more photographs and a video of each of Judith’s “Touched by Polio” art works
