Over 15 years, 575 pages and five rewrites Levittown resident Robert Mauro was able to publish his autobiography Sucking Air, Doing Wheelies: Memoirs of a Fifties Polio Survivor this August.

Mauro contracted polio on his 5th birthday in 1951. He was taken away from his parents and placed in a school for the disabled in New York City. His mother fought to get him into their local parochial school long before there was the Americans With Disabilities Act. Throughout his life he has gone from hospitals to doctors, enduring painful rehabilitation and surgeries. Today he is wheelchair-bound and on a ventilator. All of which Mauro said was very painful to write about.

"It brought back many extremely painful memories of being in an iron lung at age 5, being taken away from my parents on my 5th birthday as a result of polio," Mauro explained. "Spending two years in the hospital, and then having to deal with post polio syndrome in college and being put back on a ventilator after 19 years of being ventilator free."

It was at college that Mauro befriended a fellow disabled student, Ron Kovic, who went on to write Born on the Fourth of July. He also helped found an advocacy group that made the college campus handicapped accessible. It was here that he also had his first short stories and poems published and plays produced.

Since then Mauro has published several books and artwork including a poem entitled A Simple Dream for William Levitt and a short story titled Levittown, New York: America's And My Hometown. He will also have a month-long art exhibit at the Levittown Public Library in October. Mauro said his newest book is about seeing what the human spirit is made of.

"I wrote my book to help me remember and understand what I went through and what I have accomplished," Mauro said. "But I wrote it also to show what a person with a severe disability is capable of. Many of us people with disabilities have fought over the years for equal education, better accessible housing, transportation, and equal access to buildings by having ramps installed. This long struggle has resulted in the Americans With Disabilities Act. The ADA has gone a long way to helping us achieve this goal of independence for all people with disabilities."

A Levittown resident since 1973, Mauro attended Hofstra University. He is currently involved in a long-term relationship.

To receive an autographed copy of Mauro's book visit www.publishamerica.com/books/10388 or send a check for $25, plus $3 for shipping and handling to Robert Mauro, 257 Center La., Levittown, NY 11756. Other copies are available through www.amazon.com or www.publishamerica.com/books/10388. For more information visit www.geocities.com/ram9872002/books.htm.