Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-28
TITLED
OPENS SHOP IN PARIS. =
Duqwoody Man Tells
OF Work That Can
Be Done By Blind

st. Paul, Mimi, Nov. ,2S.-Knowl-
edge of what blind people can do in
modern manufacturing and CONNER
cial life is necessary before the prob
lem Of their training and placement
can be dealt with intelligently, DR.. c.
A. Prosser, director Of Dunwoody in
stitute, Minneapolis. told the indus
trial rehabilitation convention here.
AS that information las not been OBJ
tanned, it can only be gotten as the
result of study, lie said.
DR.. Prosser urged the employing Of
blind persons as field agents of the
state department, under the direction
Of the division Of re-education, whose
task should be that of trying out ,oc-
cupations which promise, the POSSIBLE
ity of successful work by a non-sight- !
ed person, instead of limiting the field ;
Of occupations for the blind to the
few callings they now enjoy.
These tests should be carefully
planned" he said, 'the conditions
fully evaluated, the opinion Of fore
man and employees carefully gathered
In order to arrive at q definite deter
mination Of occupations which en-
ployers, as well as social workers, are
agreed offer opportunities for the
blind"
Funds Available. .
The director Of Dunwoody Institute
declared that federal fundssare avail
that under the Smith -Bankhead act,
it would only be, necessary for the
state department of education to pc
tition the federal board for vocational
education for the approval of this par
ticular project of employing blind
persons as special field agent to make
these research tests The blind. he
eNa ia So o~n thn an az n0n1o4 rh he va
the necessary qualifications required
to carry Of this study.
For fifty years, the speaker declar-
cd, people interested in the blind have
been working in various Ways to i'm
prove their condition., and it has be-
come clear that all efforts at better
ment go back to one fundamental
problem-that. of. making the blind
wholly or partially self supporting.
Efforts have been made to edu-
cate blind children at state institu-
tons" he said. 'They have been
taught 10Y to Ee blind and have been
given a fair elementary education.
Usually at seventeen they are sent
back to their homes.
I'm the most progressive Of these
institutions attempts have been made
to train them in some form Of hand
! york. AS long as the attempt is made
to deal with this question as a craft
in these institutions and elsewhere,
the number Of things that blind peo-.
pie can do successfully in commercial
life is necessarily restricted TO. such
traditional things as broom7making,
mop-making, weaving of a type, GRO
I cheting and piano tuning.
Field Limited.
This field is so limited and the
conditions under which the work for
the blind has to be carried IN in the
performance Of these activities are
such thai the tendency has been to
take, all the. blind people and put
them, into a very limited number of
callings where they have had to serve
as Individual workers, and the fruits
of their labor have to be marketed by
voluntary associations of sighted peo-
pie.
DR.. Prosser said this program
makes no provision whatever for peo-
Pile who lose their sight in after years
without having been taught to be
other way of making a~living than the
one followed Is a sighted person.
Here again, he said. it would be nee
cssary t jamethem: into a few caIlings,
their traditional lines. and discourage
, ment and failure would result.
uation." DR.. Prosser declared. "That
hope is Afforded by the highly spe-
~cialized character OF tasks In modern
Industrial and commercial life. There
Ii an endless number. of occupations,
automatic or semi-automatic in char
acter, some OF them performed by a
machine and some Of them by hand.
which a BE and successfully has
ifbeen taught blind people, at which
! they can learn to perform with a
skill and speed experimenting that
/ OF a sighted person
He then explained demonstrations
Of blind at Cleveland, Ohio. whore 1t
was shown sightless persons were able
to become efficient in IS occupations
In the automobile, electrical and
metal manufacturing lines As Minne-
sota's possibilities di1er somewhat,