Polio

I was at the University of Washington's spinal injury forum  a great place to meet people with similar issues and injuries as well as those whose problems are subtly different. I work at an organization called Disability Pride (another post) with a number of folks with different physical and mental disabilities including a couple of folks with Osteiogenesis Imperfecta. This is a condition leading to a reduced height and fragile bones. Frequently these people are in wheelchairs. At the forum I found myself chatting with a woman in a wheelchair, a little larger than my friends but not very large. She stated that her condition was Osteiogenesis Imperfecta. Of course we chatted about our mutual friends. I thought that everyone in town with that rare condition would know others with a similar affliction.
After a while she introduced her daughter, also in a wheelchair. The daughter was a brown skinned girl, maybe in her mid teens. I asked whether she had Osteiogenesis Imperfecta and she replied "no I had polio'. I almost blurted out "wait you are too young - no one gets polio anymore". Then I reconsidered her skin and the likelihood that she might not be from this country. Suddenly it became clear - who would adopt a child confined to a wheelchair but someone used to living in a wheelchair herself.
The daughter it turns out is adopted and is from India.