The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-20
Jobs FOR The HANDICAPPED
nriF MUTE YOUNG WOMAN
BECOMES A. TYPEWRITER.
ne,f Cook and One Armed Kitchen
Helper Make GOod-Probiem OF the
Elderly Man Out of Workplaces
Found for 1000 U~nfortunates.

Elderly Man Out OF work-Piaces
Found for 1000 Unfortunates.
perore long the bureau for helping the
,bvsically Handicapped to find work may
solve the servant question.
When two years ago DR.. Theodore c.
Janevay and G.. G. Carstens. then OF the
Charity Organization Society, decided
mat II would be a good thing TO establish
an employment bureau for the physically
handicapped they. mel only lukewarm en-
couagement. It received few applica-
lions from either employers or would be
employees. Three months later there
was a decided change. and to-day the
bureau has demonstrated its usefulness.
Since it's inception 2.i62 OF the physi-
cally handicapped have registered, Of
whom loss have been helped to employ
ment-in many cases to steady employ
ment. Instead Of half a dozen appli-
cants a week Of late the registration has
frequently touched 500 a month.
In place Of the former almost universal
indifference Of the employers to the aims
of the bureau something almost like APP
prevail has been manifested. The present
manager says that she hopes by personal
visits to factories and shops as well as by
letters to smaller concerns Int to the
usual run of employment agencies to fan
into O brighter flame this interest by pre-
seuting facts and figures which it was
impossible h present two years ago.
sIu New York eaid she. employers
ara as a rule less concerned with estab-
fishing sympathetic personal relations
with their employees thar they are with
any other phase Of their business. Those
In particular who deal with a large force
OF helpers need to be educated to the idea
OF trying to utilize the services Of the
Handicapped.
IN q village or town this c~allousness is
less marked. Not long ago I saw near
the railroad station OF a country town a
man with club feet who was handling
small baggage quite of ectively and who
afterward climbed to the drivers seat
Of q delivery wagon and drove on. In
this cliff, Il Is safe 10 cay. the came man
would have had not the ghost Of a show
at that job"
OF the 2.ie2 applicants referred to
three-fourths we're e and OF these
20 per cent. ranged from, 40 to rs years OF
ege and included the n arrioi. one
eEHeu nQtupOtChols NlSuA hht eeth0
deaf, blind and broken down in health,
Among them were old men. strong and
virile. and men of forty, weak and appar-
emily At for emily the lightest tasks.
A small percentage OF the Handicapped
were elderly men who had lost q job
on account of illness and when able to
70 back to work had found their places
file by younger mon. .
There were others who had never had
regular employment and had therefore
contracted the habit of idleness and
dependency. In speaking OF this class
tine nsac s"!1:
1T Is droedful to let the crippled boy
or girl get the idle habit. A girl or boy
ORR without a hand or a foot or who
loses O hand OF a foot when very young
should be educated with special refer
once TO that handicap. Personally ]
abonli like TO take hold of the handi-
nr,oe1 wbea young. and j do hope that
sn~sdaythere will be a school forcripplei
children, especially where among other
~ work for which there is a market.
THE average boy. when he leaves
-chool, starts In TO run errands, mem
while gaining business exnerieace ani
= chance ut promotion. The crippled
'oy can't run errands. What is he to
start at?
AS a rule he Is not encouraged to think
Re can undertake anything which neces-
titatcs manual %dexterity, pityins friends
and relatives often holding him back
from attempting to work at all and thus
condemning him to perpetual idleuess.
Every humpbapk, every lame boy or
girl should be taught that it Is as easy
to acquire the habit OF industry az Or
:jleness.
What can we do for othors who are
physically handicapped Fo- men who
,sist on doing work .thev have been
accustomed to do, very little. In modern
life business men--some Of them, at lest
wear out fast and. Handicapped by
c~nfeebled he1lth. a man must give up
'e;t on,
when an applicant comes in here,
crippled or otherwise, ! try tn get him
to talk about the things he ma have dore
outside his REGULAR routine Of work. II
can't draw him out ! ask him to 90 home
and think il over and I come back the
next day with suggestions as to some OF
the things he ~ifnagines he can do. .
A mar who once had held a clerical
position which he lost when he became
deaf let out while chatting with me that
when camping out IN his youthful dave
he had become quite an accomplished
cook. The next week I got him a place
as cook In the suburbs.
Most me,. I find. are more or less do.
nestle In their tastes n able to do somc
nart Of the housework as well as a woman.
A one armed man who was ve-v far down
on his hck is now earning q living as dish
washer. He learned 10 do that y thing
at home. but Until I ~sioEested 1t he had
never re~coRnized in d~ishwashing a COM
mernial asset.
Another applicant with onlv one hand
"a now earning a living and heloing his
family as cooks assistant preparing veg
etables and doing lieht chores. His en-
rloyer after a weeks trial said that his
rev helper could peel potatoes with one
hand quicker than could most persons
with two hands.
Born without a hand, one man I Fnow
became an expert telegraph operator after
he reached manhood. and one hand type
writer's nre no longer uncommon, al
thou gh | never suNges to any but young
cripples that the7. take up this work.
R the way, there Is now employed in
tlis building as tvrexriter ayoung woman
who Is a deaf mute. She was anon the
first Of the applicants to arrive when this
ourean was opened.
Naturally at the start her teacher had
to submit all her directions ard suRges-
lions In writing. In two months the ~irl
was qualified to take d position as copy list,
and she is giving splendid satisfaction
ard reaching out to learn how to operate
othe kinds OF machines.
"As;ing for suggestions. I am amused
at tho number Of cripples who want to
he iicFot choppers at the subwa- or ele-
Tatod st9t'ons and their disapnointme1t
when | oTplain that IL tales able bodied