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	DISABILITY RESOURCES ONLINE
	Monitoring, Reviewing and Reporting on Resources For Independent Living
	Updated 3/2008
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Elegy For A Disease: A Personal And Cultural History Of Polio
by Anne Finger

St. Martin's Press, 2006. Hardcover, 289 pages, $25.95

 

Most of the people who will read disability rights activist and acclaimed writer Anne Finger's memoir of living with polio will have no personal connection to or recollection of periodic epidemics that ended with the introduction of the Salk vaccine in the 1950s. For these readers, Finger's aptly-titled account of how polio once captured national attention as much as AIDS did in its early years will be a fascinating glimpse of a disease now eradicated in most developed countries.

For another, smaller group of readers, however, Elegy For A Disease will either bring back memories of loved ones lost to or affected by this once-dreaded and prevalent virus or vague reminders of Franklin Roosevelt, the fear during epidemics, and sugar cubes coated with the vaccine. There exists, in dwindling numbers, a third group of individuals for whom reading this book will be like looking into a literary mirror; this last group, comprised of polio survivors, will find in Finger's book a past and a present all too familiar.

Finger does an excellent job of presenting her own life as a polio survivor within a cultural framework. From her childhood in the 1950s to her current dealings with post-polio sequelae/syndrome, Finger draws the reader in with her astute observations and compelling prose. Having followed this author's fiction and nonfiction for the past few decades, I have recommended her disability-related work to many readers knowing they would not be disappointed. Some things, thankfully, never change.

 

-Reviewed by Sally Rosenthal

Fine Motor Skills In Children With Down Syndrome: A Guide For Parents And Professionals
by Maryanne Bruni

Woodbine House, 2006. Softcover, 241 pages, $19.95

 

If there is anything we at Disability Resources like more than a good, practical book aimed at both professional and consumer audiences, it is an updated and expanded version of such a book. So, we are happy to discover this second edition of Fine Motor Skills In Children With Down Syndrome. Written by an occupational therapist with extensive experience in this client population, this work also has a more personal point of view since Maryanne Bruni is the mother of a teenager with Down Syndrome.

The information Bruni presents is clinically sound and consumer-friendly, making her book useful for clinicians working in hospital, home, and school settings and to families and teachers as well. After explaining the foundations of fine motor development and subsequent dexterity, the author shows how Down Syndrome can affect hand and finger fine motor skills.

Of most use to the readers, however, will be the compensations and solutions Bruni presents for accomplishing ADLs and age-appropriate tasks at home and in school. She is especially adept at suggesting innovative ways to implement therapeutic techniques into everyday tasks not associated with therapy.

Very reasonably priced and highly recommended, this second edition includes the following new material: sensory processing information relating to children with Down Syndrome, tips on pre-printing activities, research on how children with Down Syndrome learn, expanded suggestions for toys and activities, and updated computer use information.

 

 

-Reviewed by Sally Rosenthal

 

 

About the reviewer: A former college librarian and occupational therapist, Sally Rosenthal lives with her husband Sandy who is a polio survivor and their rescued cat Toby and awaits the arrival of her second guide dog.