<
https://theconversation.com/my-greatest-handicap-was-the-attitude-of-normal-people-alan-marshalls-artful-polio-memoir-i-can-jump-puddles-turns-70-257620>
"With vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr as United States Health Secretary
and an outbreak in Papua New Guinea last month, polio – largely eliminated in
most of the world – has been back in the news. It’s a potent sign of why
vaccines are important. Mass polio vaccination began in Australia in 1956. Our
last polio outbreak was in 1961 and Australia was declared polio-free in 2000.
Australian disabled author Alan Marshall contracted polio in 1908, when he was
six. In 2025, it is 70 years since he published his fictionalised memoir,
I
Can Jump Puddles: often framed by nondisabled people as an inspirational story
of a boy overcoming polio. However, it was much more complex than that.
In 1955, Marshall had already been an author for 20 years. Using his writer’s
toolbox, he carefully crafted his memoir to reflect the truth as he felt it,
and key messages he was passionate about – including the importance of
encouraging disabled children to take risks and learn. This influenced what he
put in and left out.
A staple of many Australian school reading lists for decades,
Puddles was
translated into 30 languages, made into a movie (in Czechoslovakia) in 1971 and
an ABC TV miniseries in Australia in 1981. Marshall narrated the text for ABC
radio, too."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
