GREAT HANDICAP OVERCOME

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26092, 20 April 1950, Page 2

GREAT HANDICAP OVERCOME

MISS BETTY STEEL’S ACHIEVEMENT

Courage and perseverance in spite of severe physical handicaps have enabled Miss Betty Steel, of Puhuka settlement, Washdyke, to lead a happy and interesting life. Miss Steel is visiting Christchurch to attend the international conference of correspondence educators.

A sufferer for 27 years from spastic paralysis. Miss Steel is unable to use her hands or her right foot. Sshe has the use of only two toes of her left foot. Miss Steel, however, has produced large quantities of needlework which would do credit to anyone having the full use of their hands. Many hours of work go into the embroidery of even a small section of a design.

An idea of Miss Steel’s infinite patience is gained from the beautiful supper cloths, cushion covers, and traycloths which she has worked. The section being worked is tacked on to a frame. With her foot Miss Steel manoeuvres the work into position. This in itself takes some considerable time, but she never loses patience. Under the work she places a small wooden block or a pad. This enables her to get her needle at the correct angle for stitching. Some of the designs she works are traced. Others she evolves' as she works. Manv of these are very intricate and depend for their effect on a high degree of exactness. With her work more than twice the normal distance from her eyes, Miss Steel’s accuracy is astonishing. It is very rarely that she has to take the needle out because she has gone one thread too tar When this does happen she is able to see the error and correct it immediately. Her colour sense is well developed and the colour blending in some of her work is really beautiful. Particularly attractive is f C] US <. hlon c . over with a design of scarlet poppies.

. Weaving and Typing fhrslnth ln^ whlcll she has been taught mL 0 correspondence school, Miss Steel finds simpler than fancy work, bhe has woven many brightly coloured bags with a firm and smooth finish.

Probably the most spectacular of her achievements is typing. Through the correspondence school she took lessons until the end of last year, and painstakingly typed all the required work ?yA tb , on e toe. Sometimes she does not hit the key strongly enough and will try two or three times with one letter until she is satisfied that it is sufficiently clear. Her typing is neat and well spaced and almost entirely without errors. She can insert the paper m the machine and start a fresh line without assistance.

Yesterday when a reporter called to see her she was typing a. letter. She inserted and addressed the envelope without assistance.

Many of her correspondence lessons called for drawing, but Miss Steel could not hold a pencil. * She would therefore have been excused from these exercises, but she does not take easily to excuses. She found that she could “draw” with the typewriter. Ducks and hens, houses, boats, Maori chiefs, flowers, and many other illustrations to her work have been produced with great care and skill. Her sense of form enables her to visualise the completed picture, and keeping the outline in her mind, she produces a very convincing picture from hundreds of commas, dashes and other symbols on the typewriter. Miss Steel is probably one of the most severely handicapped persons to have received instruction through the» New Zealand Correspondence School.