A Digital Memorial & Archive
Virtual Museum of Polio Survivors
Remembering the past. Honoring the survivors. Preserving the legacy.
This museum was created to preserve the memory of those who lived through polio — not only as patients, but as children, adults, parents, workers, dreamers, and survivors.Curated by Viney Lugani, polio survivor · Berlin
Walk Through the Museum
Five rooms of memory
Each room holds a different part of the story — from the history of a virus that gripped the world, to the people who carry its legacy today.
The History
A journey through the rise of polio, public fear, the medical response, and collective memory.
Enter the room
The Iron Lung
A room dedicated to one of the most powerful symbols of the polio era.
Enter the room
Voices of Survivors
Personal stories, memories, and reflections from those who lived through polio.
Enter the room
The Late Effects — PPS
Understanding Post-Polio Syndrome and the long shadow of survival — for survivors, families, and caregivers alike.
Enter the room
Polio in Memory
How polio lives on in families, culture, medicine, and personal identity — and why the world began to forget.
Enter the roomPolio in numbers
A century of fear — and a turning tide
Estimated paralytic polio cases worldwide in 1988, across more than 125 countries where the disease was endemic.
The fall in wild poliovirus cases since the global eradication effort began in 1988 — one of the great achievements of public health.
People able to walk today who would otherwise have been paralysed, thanks to vaccination since 1988.
The number of countries where wild poliovirus is still endemic today — the last strongholds of a disease once found worldwide.
Figures: World Health Organization & the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Voices
The people who lived it
Behind every statistic is a face, a voice, a life still being lived. These are some of the survivors who carry polio's legacy into the present — and who chose to share their story.
Susan L. Schoenbeck
A polio survivor, nurse, and author who shares her experience of living with the disease and its lasting effects.
Read Susan’s story
Kay
Kay tells the story of her polio, the years that followed, and learning to live with the late effects decades later.
Read Kay’s story
Karen Butterworth
From New Zealand, Karen reflects on a life shaped by polio and post-polio syndrome — “Kia ora koutou, may you all be well.”
Read Karen’s storyShare Your Story
Every memory matters
Did you, or someone you love, live through polio? Your experience is part of a history that must not be forgotten. We invite survivors, families, and carers to share their stories — in their own words, at their own pace.
Tell us your storyNo detail is too small. You decide what to share, and we will always ask before anything is published.