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After World War II, America swelled with pride and
prosperity. But for veterans whose bodies were maimed in battle, there
was little cause for celebration. Physical disability, regardless of the
heroics that caused it, was still misunderstood by the public and baffling
to physicians. Yet a growing number of doctors and supporters saw a need for change.
As one of them later wrote about that period:
Too many Americans lionized disabled veterans for a few months and then
forgot them, or tried to forget them. The disabled veterans became part
of that vast army of the handicapped which we would rather not look at,
rather not think about.
Three years after the war's end, the man who wrote those words founded
a 16-bed hospital to rehabilitate not only disabled war veterans but civilians,
as well. The man was Dr. Henry H.Kessler and his hospital, Kessler Institute
for Rehabilitation, helped pioneer a new area of medicine and improve
the lives of millions.
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