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Though her first seven years were likely happy, the following 12 were not. When Dorothea turned seven, the family moved upriver to Weehawken, New Jersey. Shortly after their relocation, Dorothea was stricken with polio. With no cure for the disease at the time, Dorothea suffered permanent damage to her right leg, which resulted in a lifelong limp. However, the crippling effect of polio on young Dorothea was both a blessing and a curse. Because of her noticeable limp, she was often ridiculed by schoolmates and stared at on the streets; she also developed deep feelings for others facing adverse obstacles. As an innocent victim of circumstance herself, Dorothea could sympathize with victims of oppression, and her bout with polio proved to open doors for her as an adult. When she became a photographer, her limp made her less threatening to her subjects, and the deep sympathy she developed for her subjects radiated through the pictures she took. .
At age twelve, Dorothea suffered a second significant misfortune. Her father, charged with embezzling, or cheating his clients of money, left town and abandoned his family, never to be heard from again. Hurt and ashamed, Dorothea never spoke of her father again. The disjointed family returned to Hoboken to live with Grandma Sophie, and Dorothea's mother went back to work as a librarian. She enrolled Dorothea in a school that was dominated by Jews, as was the neighborhood. Dorothea had never been to the Lower East Side before, and the crowded noisy streets, sweatshops, and miserable living and working conditions had a profound impact on her. It opened her eyes to the tragic reality of life for many Americans. .
Daily walks through New York City and visits to her mother's library further enhanced Dorothea's role as an outside observer. She and her mother took the ferry from New Jersey to New York every day, and when Mrs. Nutzhorn worked nights, Dorothea had to make the return trip alone.
