After former president Franklin D. Roosevel’s monumet made it’s public debut in 1997, disabled advocates lobbied hard to have a statue added portraying Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Initially, only one statue in the memorial alluded to the fact Roosevelt lost the use of his legs after being afflicted with polio in adulthood.
That statue portrayed him seated with small wheels on the back of his chair.
Finally, after making enough noise and, just as importantly, raising $1.65 million, a bronze sculpture depicting Roosevelt in his self-designed wheelchair was added to the entrance of the memorial.
