Polio Survivor And Activist Breaks Down Barriers

By Kaaren Valenta

Linda Donahue was only 18 months old when she contracted paralytic polio. Until recently, when she was elected president of Polio Outreach of CT, a statewide organization of more than 200 polio survivors and their supporters, the former Newtown resident had spent much of her life trying to deny its effect on her.

“Growing up, no one ever mentioned polio in my house,” she said. “The virus was the most dreaded sentence any parent could ever hear. It meant paralysis, possible death, and living in an iron lung.”

“When I was young it was the goal to get all polio survivors walking again, first with full braces and crutches, then with half braces, and eventually without. They kept stripping away things because there was such a tremendous premium put on walking. No one knew the long-term risks at that time. In my case, I think I would not be as disabled in my later years if they didn’t heroically take away all these aides.”

Today the philosophy of polio survivors is “conserve to preserve,” an about-face from the early years when survivors were encouraged to engage in different forms of exercise, including those that were strenuous, because it was believed that exercise would build up their strength.

 “From the time I was eight years old until I began using a manual wheelchair, I tried to ‘pass’ as someone who did not have a disability,” Ms Donahue said. “Even in this day and age it is considered a premium to be up and walking.”

Today Linda Donahue uses a wheelchair to get around her Southbury home. The house has an elevator to whisk her between floors, and an attractively designed ramp that provides access between the driveway and the deck. She works part-time as director of alumni affairs at Naugatuck Valley College in Waterbury, where she is a professor emeritus of humanities after a 30-year teaching career there.

Before being elected as the president of Polio Outreach of CT, Ms Donahue was an activist involved with cross-disabilities work. She has testified frequently before the Connecticut Legislature to persuade lawmakers to vote in favor of measures that enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Her work at the grassroots level captured national attention when she was invited by former President George Bush, Sr, to attend the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990.

A frequent presenter and keynote speaker at disability and corporate conferences, seminars, and annual meetings, she shares her upbeat view of life, her enthusiasm, and her capacity to live zestfully despite living with the aftermath of childhood paralytic polio.

“My presentations are designed to promote disability awareness and acceptance,” she said. “I try to break down barriers that hold people back by sharing a hypothesis I call ‘disability dignity.’ But I don’t use a preachy, didactic approach. Sometimes in my audience there is an occasional emotional tear, but there is always far more fun and laughter than anguish.”

Born in Derby, she contracted polio in an epidemic in the 1940s and spent a year in Grace-New Haven (now Yale-New Haven) Hospital. She earned a teaching degree, then struggled to find a job.

“I had a lot of rejections and finally was told by one interviewer that he just didn’t think I’d be able to control the male students in the classroom,” Ms Donahue said. “I finally got a job teaching really tough kids from the Bronx, and after that I didn’t have trouble landing a job at John Read Middle School in Redding, where I taught for three years until I saw an ad that a new community college was being formed. I started when the school opened in 1968 and, except for the dean who hired me, I have the most seniority of anyone there.”

She lived in Sandy Hook from 1965 to 1988, when she moved to Southbury. She has two grown children, Sarah Farrell, 30, and James Donahue, 21.

While many post-polio survivors become depressed as they become more disabled by the aftereffects of the virus, Ms Donahue said she felt liberated by acknowledging that she had a disability.

“It was always like having a big purple elephant with chartreuse dots in the room – but no one would mention him,” she explained. “How liberating it was after I acknowledged it. This isn’t a secret; we can get it on the table and talk about it.”

Ms Donahue said Polio Outreach of CT provides educational, social, and emotional support through the sharing of experiences and solutions, while empowering members to make needed adjustments for continuing a life of dignity and independence.

“I tell members of my group that you were paralyzed by polio, don’t be paralyzed by society,” She said. “But I think the most helpful part is being with others who shared your experiences. That’s the most comforting and nourishing aspect of a group.”

The group meets on the third Saturday of alternate months in various accessible Connecticut restaurants. For more information contact Mike Pierce, vice president, at mpierce@iconn.net, or Linda Donahue at LinOnnLine@aol.com or by phone at 264-1075.