This activity illustrates the changes in architectural barriers between 1955 and 2005, before and after the Architectural Barriers Act (1968) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990).

Following World War II, disabled veterans and people who had had polio pushed for access to public spaces. They found the main problems to be architectural and attitudinal barriers—disability was made more difficult by the environment, not of anything wrong with them. They argued that public space and public transportation belonged to everyone and should be designed so that everyone could use them.

In 1955, the common assumption was that people with disabilities—the so-called crippled and handicapped—were not capable of accomplishing much. The prevailing attitude was that people with disabilities should stay out of sight and not be concerned about equal access or civil rights. By 2005, these people had gained many legal protections. Ramps, curb cuts, buses with lifts, accessible bathroom facilities, wheelchair-height amenities, and public awareness of civil rights for people with disabilities have drastically reduced the number and nature of architectural barriers.

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Follow this activity and learn how the poliovirus finds a host and starts the disease process. Choose the Flash version or HTML version.

Download this PDF file to color in the life cycle of the poliovirus. Illustration courtesy of NMAH