He walked with personal assistance. Most disabled people do not have Roosevelt's resources, his number of personal assistants, so we are not accepted by society. We have to convince the world that, when you have the proper resources, being disabled is not the worst-case scenario everyone thinks it is. I am not sure how to get this understanding across. To society, we people with disabilities are not acceptable as we are.
Society makes too much of cure.
It says disabled people are not OK as we are. And many of us believe that. But FDR didn't believe that. He knew that in society's eyes this branded him as incapable. It was to get rid of that stigma of being seen as incapable that Roosevelt appeared to walk.