The sun., 1908-07-05
HELPING TEE BLIND TO WORK
NEW CALLINGS AT WHICH THEY
n CAN SUCCEED NOWADAYS. !
slen and Women Taught TO Earn q Hveii-
Z hood and Enjoy Life while Doing II
~ "A Campaisn TO Prevent Unnecessary
!. Hiindnesy Public Urged to Cooperate.

y HIindnesy Public Urged to Cooperate.
The New York Association for the Blind
has Just issued Its arst report. covering It's
work from It's formation In November, 1905.
The facta and figures presented bear out the
assertion Of the secretary, Miss Winifred
Holt, that the association has proved Its
usefulness from an economic as well as from
q humane standpoint.
The shorthand notes for the report which is
an Illustrated pamphlet Of seventy-six ages,
were taken by blind woman. This Is per-
haps as good an example as can be had OF the
advances that have been made in educating
the blind to be useful.
The illustrations give further instances.
Blind girls are shown making lamp shades
and wire hat frames; there Is a blind opera
tor of a telephone switchboard at her work;
n blind carpenter is pictured in his work.
shop, and the camera has caught a blind
barber In the act of shaving a customer.
Then, too, blind boys and girls are shown
at various forms Of play.
The associations chief aim Is to find use
full activities for the blind and to teach the
blind to adopt them either as means OF
livelihood or Of recreation. The idea had
its start in giving the blind free tickets for
musical and dramatic entertainments.
Miss Winifred Holt and her sister, Miss
Edith Holt, both Of whom have devoted
most OF their time for many years to the
work OF improving the condition OF the blind.
were attending a concert in Italy some years
ago when they noticed the evident delight
which some blind boys took in the music.
Through their efforts the committee for
tickets for the blind was formed in 1908.
The Misses Holt opened an Office in their
own house, where they interviewed the
blind persons who applied for free admit
tance TO concerts or theatrical perform
anoes. They found that many Of these
persons eagerly sought distraction from
their dreary lives and they realized the
importance Of giving them opportunities
for work and OF teaching them how to
become wage earners.
The association began its Industrial work
In the home Of the Misses Holt in East
Seventy eighth street, but it now has
Offices salesrooms and cllssrooms in its
own building, at lls East Fifty-ninth street.
and factory for blind men at lat East
Forty-second street
Miss Winifred Holt reports that one Of
the most important undertakings Of the
association is a CAMPAIGN for the preven-
tion of unnecessary blindness. The eye
sight Of many babies could be saved, she
says, II proper treatment were supplied
before IL was too late. Miss Holt declares
that IL proper official precautions were
adopted and enforced, and If the public
would cooperate, the needless blindness.
which the associations experts find ex-
ceeds 80 per cent, would be prevented and
there would be little scope for nurseries
or schools for the blind.
She has found that blind children are not
properly educated in this city. In several
cases the association found it necessary to
supplement the education of young per-
sons who were 80 badly taught in schools
for the blind they had attended for years
that they were unable to read or write or
TO do anything sufficiently well to become
wage eaIners.
Furthermore the graduates of the city
school for the blind were in many cases
In wretche1 physical condition. largely
through inferior provision for fresh air
and fun. two things which are essential to
the well being Of persons so afflicted. Miss
Holt gives this advice to those in charge
of the New York school:
The graduates of the Boston School for the
Blind tune the pianos in the public schools
The graduates of the New York school should
be tttSl 10 do similar work. and the highly
remunerative and suitable profession OF
tuning for the blind should be properly taught
with such excellence that the graduate tuners
would be In demand, as Is the case here with
many other schools and abroad. Blind
pupils should also be trained to be efficient
typewriters and stenographers.
The blind need fresh air. fun and exercise:
they need specific training and the best that
can be had They require after graduation
the interest Of the directors Of the school to
help them to find an Industrial footing In the
community.
But the chief work Of the New York as
sociation has been and is in caring for the
adult blind, who are two-thrds of the num-
ber Of blind in the community. 1t is par
ticularly hard for those who are stricken
after they reach maturity They. mus.
how to be happy The association has en-
couraged particularly the economic educa-
tion OF the blinHi in the normal life of their
own homes Miss Holt gives some ex-
amples from her experience:
or the blind cooperators who have been
trained as switchboard operators five have
been placed In regular positions. one In a
hospital where he Is responsible for all the
ambulance calls and other work OF Importance,
two In commercial houses, one in the editorial
rooms of an important daily paper and one
at the Office OF the association. This is de-
cidedly the most successful work in this line
that has been done by any association thus
far. On the staff of the association a blind
secretary and stenographer is regularly EN-
ployed She took down in shorthand and
typed this report.
young man who had held a position of
responsibility and lost his sight very sud-
denly came to us through a relative who
had heard OF our Blind Society. Though
he could neither read nor write. the Blind
Society showed him the possibility for the
seeing blind man so that he learned how to
read. write and typewrte from the phono-
graph. but more than that he learned to be-
lisve In the capability of the well directed
energies OF the blind. He Is now regularly
employed typewrtins from the phonograIih
for company. and also acting as secretary
20 one Of it's officers, who Is so well pleased
with him that he sends him to and from the
Office In O motor. and he Is now able to support
his young wife and himself.
The association has been disappointed In
not inducing the public to employ Blind mas
seuys. In Japan massage has been regarded
as q profession particularly suited to the
blind because the sense Of touch is devel-
opsd 90 aoutely.. A count made recently In
Toxic showed that out of 200 masseurs
600 were blind, and most Of them were max
ing good living
Massage has been recognized in England