Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1920-05-14

The theory that the individual who
has suffered some misfortune and lost
some faculty which seems indispen-
sable TO industrial usefulness is not a
good buy on the labor market has
again been disproven. One of the big
rubber companies In Akron. Ohio, has
placed on its pay roll 600 people who
can neither hear nor speak. and these
handicapped individuals have demon
strated that they are as efficient as
any other group in their organization.
writes Frederic j. Haskin In the Chi
cago News.
About this group of actual workers
Is gathered as many more of their
kind. dependent upon them. and thus
there has developed at Akron the larg-
est colony of "silents" in the industrial
life of the nation. They take their
places as independent. self-reliant citi-
zens. who ask no special indulgence.
The successful employment of this
group of mute workers is additional
proof developing in the West that
there are places in industry into which
handicapped individuals can be fitted
and in which they will serve effec-
lively.
The handicap bureau Of Chicago
gave this theory the best demonstra-
ton, persuading employers to find
places into which One-legged people,
blind people and old people would fit
1t supplied those handicapped persons
for these special positions. The handi-
caps were SO earnest in their attempts
to make good, because II was almost
a matter of life and death with them,
that they often proved better workmen
ut certain tasks than normal workers
Found True at Akron Plant.
This Is found to be true of the mutes
at Akron. In big plant there are
many posts In which hearing and
speech are unnecessary. The person
without hearing escapes annoyance
from the noise. The person without
speech is less likely to be diverted
from task which requires concentra-
ton.
The lack of speech and hearing does
not necessarily diminish mental or
physical alertness. On the contrary
such deprivation may be conducive to
even keener mentality, a finer degree
of sensitiveness and a higher sensibil-
ity, all of which inherent traits make
the deaf mute unusually efficient and
highly desirable for certain kinds Of
Industrial work.
Strikingly corroborative of the conten-
ton that high degree Of general men
tally is found among deaf mute EN-
ployees, records show that in the psy.
Geological tests given in this factory
similar to the army's psychological
tests. deaf mute men and women in
the factory and main Offices in Akron
attained higher average grades than
any other group.
Recently officials of the company
were persuaded TO give deaf mute fac
tory girls chance at Office work. They
were agreeably surprised at the rapid
ity with which the girls grasped de-
tails and successfully overcame handi-
caps. So mentally alert. so quick to
grasp ideas. so painstakingly efficient
and so determined to succeed was one
Of these deaf mute girls that within
two weeks she was performing IN
assisted and in highly satisfactory
manner work which II had taken her
immediate predecessor, girl who
could both speak and hear. nearly
seven weeks to master. This holds
true in cases of nearly all deaf mute
girls transferred to Office work.
Affection Increases AIertness.
Since establishment of the rapidly
growing silent" colony In 1914. the
deaf mutes have proven themselves
among the steadiest and the sturdiest
Of all the company's $4,000 employees.
Their experiences in tire building espe-
cially has demonstrated that their af-
Fiction does not constitute serious
physical handicap. and that II in
creases rather than diminishes both
mental and physical alertness.
These deaf mutes now have their
own clubhouse, their own church serv-