Learning from the Past: Reflections on Two Lives with Polio and Occupational Therapy

Abstract

This paper reflects the personal journeys of two occupational therapists, who have lived with polio and have shared remarkably similar experiences despite living in two different countries. An autoethnographic approach was taken and three phases emerged: appearance, covering the 1940s and 1950s; disappearance, covering the next three decades; and reappearance, covering the 1990s until the present day. These phases encompass the twin tracks of polio and occupational therapy over 60 years of two lives and their joint journey.