Living Well with Polio

Francine Falk-Allen enjoys presenting to Rotary groups, thankful for Rotary’s shared commitment to ending polio and vaccinating for other preventable diseases.  She concentrates primarily on how polio affected her, both as a child and on through adulthood. She likes to start with a little humor, since many people are uncomfortable with the topic of disability. She will read a few passages from her memoir on living with polio, and then from her book on travel and self-care for aging or disabled people. There is humor in these passages, but the reality of disability permeates her writing in both books. Between readings she shares more of her life experience related to having a lifelong disability. She ties in Rotary’s work with how some of the challenges she faced can be avoided or eradicated with vaccination. She then takes questions, even personal ones, which usually comprises a lively portion of the presentation.