Paul Alexander (polio survivor)
Life
Alexander was born on January 30, 1946, in Dallas to Gus Nicholas Alexander, the child of Greek immigrants, and Doris Marie Emmett, of Lebanese descent. He contracted polio at the age of six and, within a week of developing symptoms, lost the ability to breathe independently and was paralyzed for life, only able to move his head, neck, and mouth.
Life
Alexander was one of the Dallas Independent School District's first home schooled students. He learned to memorize instead of taking notes. At the age of twenty-one, he graduated second in his class from W. W. Samuell High School in 1967, becoming the first person to graduate from a Dallas high school without physically attending a class.
Life
Alexander received a scholarship to Southern Methodist University. He transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1978, then a Juris Doctor in 1984. Before he was admitted to the bar in 1986, he was employed as an instructor of legal terminology to court stenographers at an Austin trade school. He represented clients in court in a three-piece suit and a modified wheelchair that held his body upright.
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