The son of two parents with Polio tells their inspirational story (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

The son of two parents with Polio tells their inspirational story

4:14pm Wednesday 13th April 2011 in Highlights By George Nott

Children can be cruel, and the playground a forum for vicious exchanges. This is how author Andrew Bradford recalls one Edmonton school-yard tease from 1959, the first time he became aware of the prejudice some held against his Polio suffering parents:

“‘Your parents are cripple dicks, aren’t they?’ he said. I was ten and the small boy was in the year below me. I hardly knew him.

“‘They’re not cripple dicks, they’re disabled.’ I replied. He said: ‘And when you grow up you’ll be crippled too.’

“‘No I won’t! My mum and dad have Polio – you catch that like a cold, you don’t pass it on to your children!’ ‘Yes you do – my mum told me.’

Andrew reflects: “I can’t remember his name or what he looked like. But I will never forget the conversation.“

Now Andrew has written a book, Live Eels and Grand Pianos, which recounts the remarkable struggles of his parents Charlie and Kathy, a true story of courage in the face of adversity.

"To live ordinary lives they had to become extraordinary."

Andrew Bradford

“They were disabled rights activists before the words disabled, rights or activist were being used,“ explains Andrew. “To live ordinary lives they had to become extraordinary.“

Charlie was born in 1906 and caught Polio aged three leaving him paralysed in both legs and his left arm. With a severely twisted spine, he stood at less then 5ft tall. Kathy caught polio at 10 months, leaving her disabled in both legs and needing crutches and leg irons to get around.

But, like the book, the couple did not dwell on their disease. Charlie, due to lengthy periods of hospitalisation, left school without qualifications – making him practically unemployable. So he peddled sweets outside Latymer School in Edmonton, sold sandwiches to workers constructing the A10 and reconditioned secondhand wheelchairs. That was until 1939 when disabled people living in London were evacuated to a ‘cripple camp’ in Dovercourt, Essex, where he met Kathy.

“I think they were horrified as they had both been fairly independent up until then,“ explains Andrew. “They felt they were being treated as if they had learning difficulties and as if they were stupid.“

After the war, the pair attracted the attention of the national press due to Andrew's birth.

“The idea of these seriously disabled people having a healthy child was a bit strange,“ explains Andrew, who found boxes of press photographs taken of the family, more than 20 of which are reproduced in the book, while clearing out his mother’s house after her death.

Though the newspaper reports were mostly sympathetic, the same can’t be said of all their readers. Adults can be cruel too.

“The old boy who sold newspapers on our road spat at my father when he saw the story,“ remembers Andrew. “He hurled abuse at him when he found out they’d had me.

“Things like that can get to you, but they stayed positive. Despite it all they were very happy people.“

The inspirational family memoir is also a social history. Kathy, after being sacked from three jobs each after a year questioned why. She discovered that due to her disability her employer had to pay extra National Insurance contributions. She offered to pay them herself, so kept her tailoring job but took detailed records that would later inform the Beveridge Commission – and change this injustice forever.

“For me their story had to be told,“ says Andrew. “It’s so gratifying to hear younger generations are reading the book and have been moved. My parents worked so tirelessly, I couldn’t let their story be lost in time.“

Live Eels and Grand Pianos is available now from Amazon.co.uk, Waterstones Enfield and from the author. Details: www.andrewbradfordauthor.com