I contracted paralytic polio when I was three and went to Fairfield Hospital.
My mother got polio at the same time. She couldn’t do anything. For two years my father looked after her at home. When we recovered enough we flew to my aunt’s home in Armidale NSW, for the fresh air and sanctuary it provided.
I studied Social Work at Melbourne University and worked as a teacher as well as a social worker.
For five years I have been demonstrating for more public housing, schools, health services, and, equality for indigenous people.
I joined the Post Polio Victoria Committee in 2014 because PPV is providing the advocacy for equality of care for people who have had polio.
Sometimes I look at the photos of the kids who attended my primary school; 600 children attended in classes of 50. Five to eight percent of the children in each class had contracted polio. All discovered ways to manage at school.