on relationships goes beyond childhood.

I remember the prettiest girl in my high school class. She had childhood polio. In her senior year, her legs became weaker and she had to wear braces on both her legs. Her steady boyfriend broke up with her because of this.

Women who had polio can be an extremely attractive group in many ways and anyone would be lucky to date them. But I know of instances where parents interceded to stop a guy from dating a girl disabled by polio.

If you are a lucky polio survivor, your spouse will stay with you and help you when post-polio robs you of strength and/or overwhelms you with pain.

But my experience is that when post-polio hits and the wife-husband dynamic changes because the polio survivor cannot physically do as much as she/he could before, the non-disabled spouse often does not step up to the plate to help. Spouses may not adapt, making the polio survivor feel very alone. Divorce rates are high.

Maybe the spouse is embarrassed by the polio survivor’s disabilities. Or the non-disabled spouse just does not want to give more than he/she did before to contribute to a relationship.

I am one of the lucky ones. My wife stayed with me and is an advocate for post-polio syndrome awareness.