Better Financial Support
by David Iron ~ contracted polio at age 2
I am 54 and contracted polio at the age of 2. Whilst it has never been formally acknowledged by any government body it is almost certain that I contracted polio from the vaccine. C’est la vie!
The biggest issue that I have faced throughout my life is the added expenses that incur just to be able to function like an able-bodied person. What galls me even more is that I have worked full time since I was 18 and paid my share of taxes. In order to function each day I need a leg brace and modified shoes to walk. Because my feet are different sizes I need to purchase either made-to-measure shoes or buy two pairs of the same style shoe and discard the shoes I don’t need. Either way it is expensive. The government will fund one pair a year. How many able-bodied people use one pair of shoes a year? Why aren’t expenditures that enable me to go to work and earn a salary tax deductible?
My leg brace is critical to me functioning each and every day. It is an absolute embarrassment and a disgrace that Australia, a first world country, views orthotics through the prism of a third world country. Over the last decade there have been major developments in the construction of orthotic devices but here in Australia we have ignored them because our health departments and health funding units have chosen to fund only to the level of the most archaic and out-dated devices. In my case I will be need to pay a significant amount out of my own pocket just to upgrade my leg beyond the base level and in doing so I am still only adopting technology that is out-dated in comparison to what is currently in use in Europe and other first world countries. Lighter weight materials like laminated carbon fibre enable orthotists to build equipment that better suits their patient’s needs. In many instance the light weight can have profound and positive effects on the quality of life for the polio sufferer by reducing stress and strain on other limbs and body parts used to compensate for the overall disability.
If I was to have my polio affected leg amputated I might be better off because the government health systems in their wisdom treat a prosthetic device as entirely different to an orthotic device and are therefore happy to fund state of the art equipment. This is insane.
I would like to rally the support of those people who like me want to bring about a few simple changes.
by David Iron ~ contracted polio at age 2
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