SIGHTLESS PEOPLE

Northern Advocate, 15 June 1931, Page 7

SIGHTLESS PEOPLE

PLEA FOR NORMAL TREATMENT. MB MACKENZIE’S MISSION. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) AUCKLAND, This Day.’ A plea for normality in the public attitude toward and treatment of the blind is made by Mr Clutlia Mackenzie, director of the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, Auckland, who returned from a world conference held recently in New York. At that' gathering of representatives of 35 countries, many of whom were blind directors themselves, general matters pertaining to the advance of the work among the blind were discussed. “We are getting past the day when sentimentalism coloured the outlook which governed work among sightless people,” Mr Mackenzie said. “After all, blind people are purely normal men and women, whose sight is not as good as it might be, but in other ways they have all the varying capabilities of the human race. They are yearning for an outlet and for selfexpression. They want neither pity nor charity, but rather education and training, employment and regular ’ wages such as other people have. ’ ’ These wishes qf the blind had been realised in America, particularly, and much valuable work had been done* in finding permanent nornial employment for those whose sole disability was that they could not see. Mr Mackenzie visited a large steel works in Canada. For three years a blind operator had been in charge of an eight-spindle, semi-automatic nut-tapping machine. The suggestion that such a machine could have been operated by a sightless person would have been received with horror and disbelief but a few years ago. ■ But .that man had worked the machine for three years without accident, with an average production. jHis wages were l £5 a week. “Concession Stands.” Another development in Canada for those who had a certain business acumen, coupled with a personality, was the taking charge of what were known ae concession stands. They were neat little booths at the entrances to public hospitals, mental hospitals, large factories and business blocks, where tobacco, fruit, toilet necessities and other perquisites were sold. There were now many such stands in Canada, providing both steady employment and a regular wage, ranging from £3 to £lO a week.

“One particularly important matter was brought nearer finality at the conference,” said - Mr Mackenzie. “That was the adoption of a uniform system of Braille throughout ■ the English-speaking world. Hitherto America had used what was called grade 11 Braille, and Britain grade 2. A student of one was not readily conversant with the other, and while this was an obvious disadvantage, Tories on both sides of the Atlantic had prevented an arrangement being made.” But as the result of influence exerted at the conference, an Anglo-American committee had been set up whose object would be to provide a uniform system, readable by the Englishspeaking community throughout the

world. Thus the stock of literature available for both would be doubled. Improved Details. While a vast amount of information had been laid before the conference, information which covered the activities of the blind from the cradle to the grave, in the workshop, in the library, and in everyday normal occupation, he was able to bring back to New Zealand, as a result of his tour, improvements which dealt with details of already existing work, rather than any new principles. That spoke highly for the organisation of the work in New Zealand, which was on a very satisfactory basis, but at the same time it must be remembered that the work in New Zealand has been easy in comparison with that in America. “Here,” he explained, ‘‘ we are dealing with people with a normal, high average standard of education. Both in Canada and America that is not so. There are many levels of society, aud in every level there are blind people. Moreover, in the Dominion the whole of our work is co-ordinated, while in other countries ’ ’ —he did not particularly stress Canada or America —“organisations are under diversified control, and they sometimes neither co operate nor are even on a friendly footing the one with the other.” j The New York conference, added Mr. Mackenzie, was organised by the! American Foundation for the Blind. It was the first international conference held since jthe one in London in 1914. The work occupied some three weeks, and included a tour to various cities aud States, where work among the blind in schools, workshops and other organisations was inspected. In conclusion, Mr, Mackenzie returned to the point he had made first. Among the vety marly activities of the human mind there were ample to provide normal occupation and recreation for people who had lost their sight. These would allow them to foci the fullness of life. The finest way to inculcate that spirit among them was to provide them with the right education, and allow them to know' that what they enjoyed was the result of their own labour, and not of charity—although he was far from lacking in appreciation of the very great work done by charitable organisations for the institute in Auckland.