 Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York on January 30, 1882, the son of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano Roosevelt.  His parents and private tutors provided him with almost all his formative education. He attended Groton ( ), a prestigious preparatory school in Massachusetts, and received a BA degree in history from Harvard in only three years ( ).  Roosevelt next studied law at New York's Columbia University. When he passed the bar examination in 1907, he left school without taking a degree. For the next three years he practiced law with a prominent New York City law firm. He entered politics in 1910 and was elected to the New York State Senate as a Democrat from his traditionally Republican home district.  He was the 32nd President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. Next Slide

 While vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick in the summer of 1921, Roosevelt contracted poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). Despite courageous efforts to overcome his crippling illness, he never regained the use of his legs.  In time, he established a foundation at Warm Springs, Georgia to help other polio victims, and inspired, as well as directed, the March of Dimes program that eventually funded an effective vaccine.  Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane.  In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public  Roosevelt's iron determination played a major role as he struggled to recover, but he never regained the use of his legs. He frequently resorted to a wheelchair, but largely managed to hide the fact — with the media's help — throughout his later career. Home

 Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours  There are three basic patterns of polio infection: subclinical infections, nonparalytic, and paralytic. Approximately 95% of infections are subclinical infections, which may not have symptoms.  SUBCLINICAL INFECTION a) General discomfort or uneasiness (malaise) b) Headache c) Red throat d) Slight fever e) Sore throat f) Vomiting Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. The virus spreads by direct person-to-person contact, by contact with infected mucus or phlegm from the nose or mouth, or by contact with infected feces. Next Slide

 The virus enters through the mouth and nose, multiplies in the throat and intestinal tract, and then is absorbed and spread through the blood and lymph system. The time from being infected with the virus to developing symptoms of disease (incubation) ranges from days (average days).  Risks include:  Lack of immunization against polio and then exposure to polio  Travel to an area that has experienced a polio outbreak  In areas where there is an outbreak, those most likely to get the disease include children, pregnant women, and the elderly. The disease is more common in the summer and fall.  Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines, the incidence of the disease has been greatly reduced. Polio has been wiped out in a number of countries. There have been very few cases of polio in the Western hemisphere since the late 1970s. Children in the United States are now routinely vaccinated against the disease. Home

 Wheelchair Use in the United States  An estimated 1.6 million Americans residing outside of institutions use wheelchairs, according to data from the National Health Interview Survey on Disability (NHIS-D). 1 Most (1.5 million) use manual devices, with only 155,000 people using electric wheelchairs. 2 Wheelchair users are among the most visible members of the disability community, experiencing among the highest levels of activity limitation and functional limitation and among the lowest levels of employment. Next Slid e

 A wheelchair is a wheeled mobility device in which the user sits. The device is propelled either manually (by turning the wheels by the hand) or via various automated systems. Wheelchairs are used by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible due to illness (physiological or physical), injury, or disability. Home