Abstract
CERTAIN occupations such as basket-making, massage and telephone-exchange operations have been assumed to be almost the only possibilities for the blind, and the normal factory environment has been dismissed as unsuitable. Since the need for labour during the War, many firms have experimented with a few blind workers, and a study of 215 blind workers employed in different firms has been made by Dr. K. G. Fenelon, of the University of Manchester. The industries included, among others, general electrical engineering, aircraft, metal ware, wood-working. 104 of the workers were trained by the firms themselves on the factory premises, 53 by the Institute for the Blind, 2 by an education committee, 8 in their own homes, while 48 had no specific training but obtained their experience on the job. The firms who have experimented with blind workers report that, while some fall short of the production obtained by the fully sighted workers, yet some are quite up to normal standards and also that they are no more liable to accidents than other workers. Some jobs involve the provision of special aids, but others can be undertaken by them with the ordinary machinery. They are particularly successful in work where delicacy of touch compensates for ability to see. It is therefore important that the jobs selected for them should be suited to their particular abilities. Their concentration on the job in hand is good, and they are in general keen and industrious. One difficulty is that they are apt to get irritated by any hold-up of material. It seems clear even from this limited survey that there is a case for a comprehensive research into the possibilities for the blind. Quite apart from their potential value as workers, it will be an advantage to them to form part of an ordinary community.
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Blind Workers in Industry. Nature 155, 602 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155602c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155602c0