It is evident that any study of blindness requires the contribution which only physicians can make. It was natural that ophthalmologists initiated the action which led to the establishment of the National Committee for Research in Ophthalmology and Blindness, of which the National Medical Foundation for Eye Care is a member. In doing so, ophthalmologists sought to bring together all those professionally concerned with persons afflicted with the blinding diseases. In the event that Congress decides to establish a study commission, this foundation will be prepared to assist in every way it can. Among the various proposals before your committee to establish a commission on blindness, there are in H.R. 356 specific provisions for membership on the commission of leaders in medicine. Some of the bills before you lack provision for adequate medical contribution. Medical education, medical research, and medical practice are all vitally concerned. The proposed commission to study the blind has great possibilities. Therefore the central contribution that medicine is prepared to make to any such study as is proposed, we hope will be recognized and fully exploited. Sincerely yours, JAMES E. BRYAN, Executive Secretary. STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. BENNETT, OF FLORIDA Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity of appearing before you today to testify in favor of my bill, H.R. 2727, proposing establishment of a temporary National Advisory Committee for the Blind. This bill is identical with H.R. 1855, introduced by our able and beloved college, Hon. D. R. (Billy) Matthews, and I am following his leadership on this proposal. Congressman Matthews has a long record of service to the blind, antedating by many years his coming to Congress. He has served as chairman of the Florida Council for the Blind and in other capacities in this field of service. I am happy to assist him in the sponsorship of this measure, which I believe will be a means of improving services to our Nation's blind. STATEMENT OF HON. A. SIDNEY Herlong, Jr., of FLORIDA, IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 14 Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, it is a privilege and a pleasure to go on record again in support of H.R. 14 and the other bills before your committee which are addressed to the rights of blind people to organize without coercion and to be consulted in the execution of public programs for their welfare. I know from personal experience of the values to be derived from direct consultation with the blind by organizations engaged in working and planning for their benefit. In my hometown of Leesburg we are proud of our splendidly organized Methodist Youth Camp. Several years ago the Florida Federation of the Blind, a State organization affiliated with the National Federation of the Blind, worked out a cooperative arrangement with this camp to provide camping services for blind children of all deonominations. Through a systematic process of consultation, the camp administration has worked out the only camp program in Florida where blind children get the experience of attending a camp with normal children and participating fully in all activities. I feel that any measure that will protect the right of blind people to associate as they choose so that they can give other organizations the benefit of their experience and insight is a worthy and valuable legislative enactment. Hon. CARL ELLIOTT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR AND Chairman, House Subcommittee on Special Education, DEAR CONGRESSMAN ELLIOTT: The AFL-CIO supports in principle the bill introduced by Representative Baring to protect the right of the blind to self expression through organizations of the blind. We hope your subcommittee will give consideration to our views as expressed in the attached resolution which was adopted unanimously at our 1957 convention. We should also appreciate having this letter and the resolution included in the record of your hearings. Sincerely yours, ANDREW J. BIEMILLER, Director, Department of Legislation. NELSON H. CRUIKSHANK, Director, Department of Social Security. REPRESENTATIONS FOR BLIND PERSONS RESOLUTION NO. 39 Whereas there is evidence of a tendency on the part of some government officials, both State and National, who are responsible for administering programs of aid to the blind, to avoid consultation concerning the problems of blind people with representatives of bona fide organizations of the blind, and in addition, to exercise the powers of their office to discourage legitimate organization of blind persons by discriminating and threatening discrimination against their representatives and members; and Whereas the right of organization for representation is a basic principle common to organized labor and all other groups of citizens having a common interest; and Whereas any denial of any such right to any group is a threat to the right of self-organization by all groups; and Whereas legislation has been introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States (S. 2411 and H.R. 8609) the purpose of which is to provide for representation by blind persons through their own chosen representatives and organizations, and to prevent the exercise of official authority in discriminating against the members and officers of these bona fide organizations; and Whereas the principle of this proposed legislation is consistent with the basic trade union and democratic principle that groups and organizations of individuals, bound together by a common need and common interest, are best acquainted with the nature of their needs and should therefore be consulted as to the content and administration of programs designed to meet these needs: Therefore, be it Resolved, That this second constitutional convention of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations endorse in principle the Kennedy-Baring bill above cited. Unanimously adopted by the AFL-CIO convention, December 9, 1957. STATEMENT OF CARL T. DURHAM, MEMBER OF CONGRESS, SIXTH DISTRICT, Mr. Chairman, I should like to say a word in support of the bill, H.R. 14, which your subcommittee is now considering. I have had occasion to confer with a group of blind citizens residing in my congressional district who have expressed great interest in this legislation and who feel that it will be very helpful to them if enacted. I do not believe that in our society any group of people who are bound together by a common affliction, which presents special problems and challenges to them in their daily lives and in their aspirations to live a full life, should be denied the right of self-expression through organizations of a suitable type which are founded on worthy purposes. I believe that in programs designed to aid and assist the blind, the authorized representatives of such organizations should be consulted to as full an extent as is possible. Having discussed the provisions of this bill thoroughly with blind persons in my district, I feel that I should urge the subcommittee to give favorable consideration to the measure H.R. 14. VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION, Hon. CARL ELLIOTT, Chairman, Subcommittee on Special Education, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. ELLIOTT: I welcome the opportunity to furnish the information you requested for the subcommittee by your letter of March 25 concerning our programs of assistance to blinded veterans. I am enclosing a statement which I believe will give you a fairly complete, though brief, picture of our activities in this important field. We take pride in what we are doing for the blinded veterans in carrying out the wise and special provisions which have been made for them by the Congress. If you need any additional data, we shall be pleased to furnish it promptly on request. Sincerely yours, BRADFORD MORSE, Deputy Administrator (For and in the absence of SUMNER G. WHITTIER, Administrator.) VA PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES CONCERNING BLINDED VETERANS The Veterans' Administration furnishes eligible and entitled blinded veterans with the following: (1) Hospitalization and outpatient services. (2) Domiciliary care. (3) Dog guides and mechanical and electronic equipment. (4) Vocational rehabilitation and training. (5) Monetary benefits. (1) Hospitalization, including definitive medical care, as well as such basic rehabilitation training as may be available in the particular facility, is provided all blinded veterans. At VA Hospital, Hines, Ill., we have a central physical medicine and rehabilitation unit for newly blinded military personnel and blinded veterans who can benefit by the highly specialized nature of treatment given for the specific goal of making patients ready to accept the social and economic responsibilities of everyday living. (VA pamphlet 10-32 and program guide G-6, M-2, Part VIII, enclosed.) The VA regional offices provide outpatient medical treatment including social and vocational rehabilitation services for service-connected blinded veterans. The problems of blinded veterans occur in two major areas: Physical capability on one hand and morale on the other. In the area of physical capability, problems of blindness differ most clearly from the problems of other disabilities. To some extent, though not entirely, the psychological and emotional discomforts of blind people resemble those arising from other severe physical disabilities. Blind rehabilitation entails both the management of the physical and the need to give entree and maximum assistance to the disciplines of social and emotional help when necessary and desirable. On these terms the physical medicine and rehabilitation program for blinded veterans has for a major goal improved methods of physical self-management and integration of the blinded veteran into programs for other veterans. The purpose of this integration is to give the veteran a feeling of belonging to the community at large rather than to a special group. In the VA blind rehabilitation program, the scope and aims are (a) To detect in blinded veterans early signs of pathological factors which militate against medical and vocational rehabilitation, and provide strong supportive aid in finding the causes of these tendencies and removing them whenever possible. (b) To assist those blinded individuals who underestimate their remaining potentialities to learn that they can still be relatively active members of the community outside the hospital. 38450 0-5929 (c) To raise the level of physical activity and social participation in the life about them on the part of those blinded veterans whose age and per sonal histories indicate very little hope that they can be discharged from a VA installation at any time. The central unit at VA Hospital, Hines, serves as a channel through which blinded veterans pass to the stream of society outside the hospital, preventing such men from the necessity of seeking out the sheltered environment of domiciliaries. Other special VA programs for the blind are devoted primarily to maintaining a high standard of institutional care of the blind when such care is indicated. (2) Domiciliary programs designed to provide medical care and training in self-sufficiency for the older blinded veterans are established in: VA Center, Bath, N.Y. VA Center, Bay Pines, Fla. VA Center, Kecoughtan, Va. By special arrangements blind domiciliary members and long-term patients may be transferred to VA Hospital, Hines, for the purpose of learning special techniques of daily living. Such patients may be hospitalized in other sections of the hospital than the blind unit, according to particular needs other than blindness. Differences in social and economic expectancy of such patients and young blinded veterans with service-connected disabilities require particularly tactful consideration and all such arrangements will necessarily be made on an individual basis. (3) Dog guides and mechanical and electronic equipment for the blind are provided in accordance with title 38: United States Code Veterans Benefits, paragraph 614, seeing-eye dogs, which reads as follows: "The Administrator may provide seeing-eye or guide dogs trained for the aid of the blind to veterans who are entitled to disability compensation, and he may pay all necessary travel expenses to and from their homes and incurred in becoming adjusted to such seeing-eye or guide dogs. The Administrator may paragraph 614, seeing-eye dogs, which reads as follows: them in overcoming the handicap of blindness." Under the authority granted by this act, the Veterans' Administration furnishes eligible blinded veterans with a variety of items deemed necessary to assist them in overcoming their physical handicap of blindness. Most of this equipment falls into the following major categories: Other items of equipment or equipment modifications not represented in the above categories have also been authorized for issue where the veteran requires them because of his blindness. (4) Vocational rehabilitation and training benefits are provided to blinded veterans whose blindness resulted from service during World War II or the Korean conflict period. These benefits include vocational counseling to assist the veteran in selecting a suitable occupation, vocational training to qualify him for employment and employment placement and followup services to assist him in making a satisfactory vocational adjustment. As needed in individual cases, additional services such as personal adjustment counseling, training in braille reading and writing, reader service and individual instruction in the home for those who are homebound are provided. Books, supplies, and equip ment needed by the veteran in his training are supplied by the Veterans' Administration. For those taking training at a school, tuition charges and fees are paid also. While the veteran is taking vocational rehabilitation, he receives a monthly subsistence allowance in addition to his disability compensation. These monthly allowances vary with the type of training the veteran is taking as well as with the number of dependents he has. Actual monthly subsistence payments range from $65 for a veteran without dependents taking on-the-job training, to $120 for a veteran with two dependents taking school training. It is estimated that approximately 1,250 blinded veterans of World War II and the Korean conflict have taken or will have taken vocational rehabilitation training by the termination date for these benefits under the law. A survey in 1953 of all veterans whose blindness was service-connected indicated that approximately 50 percent were employed. The occupations of 388 such blinded veterans are described in VA pamphlet 7-10, "Occupations*** of Totally Blinded Veterans of World War II and Korea." A copy of this pamphlet is enclosed for your information. (5) Monetary benefits are as follows: (a) Compensation for service-connected blinded veterans having vision no better than 5/200 bilateral carries an award of $309 monthly. If there is blindness in both eyes having light perception only, the monthly compensation is $359. Where there is the anatomical loss of both eyes, the monthly compensation rate is $401. Service-connected disability resulting from service other than in wartime or Korean conflict service receives 80 percent of the wartime rate. Lesser disability rates are provided for impairment of visual acuity, where retained vision is better than 5/200. (b) Pensions for non-service-connected blinded veterans who meet the service and income requirements and who are permanently and totally disabled due to blindness not due to service (and not due to misconduct), may receive monthly pension of $66.15, which is raised to $78.75 at age 65, or after 10 years continuously rated permanent and total. If veterans are in need of regular aid and attendance, the pension rate is $135.45. A veteran is considered in need of aid and attendance if he is blind or so nearly blind as to require regular aid and attendance of another person. (c) The Administrator is authorized to pay, not to exceed $1,600, toward the purchase of an automobile or other conveyance for veterans of World War II or the Korean conflict who have service-connected impaired vision of 20/200 or less, or have qualifying reduction of visual field. The Veterans' Administration maintains close liaison with other Federal and private organizations and foundations concerned with the blinded. This is particularly true with the Blinded Veterans' Association, whose field services have been designed to supplement the activities of the Veterans' Administration in blind rehabilitation. Their followup on veterans who require assistance in adjustment to home and community living greatly strengthens and reinforces ideas and concepts established during hospitalization. It is through their encouragement that many veterans have been willing to seek medical help and retraining. BVA representatives in their unique position as individuals who have met and overcome the same obstacles that other blinded veterans are facing, enables them to reach and stimulate many who reject the service of the sighted. In this way, they make effective the services offered by the VA which might otherwise be unused by the veteran. Hon. CARL ELLIOTT, STATE OF IOWA, Chairman, Special Education Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN ELLIOTT: According to recent memorandums I have received, I understand that a representative of the American Association of Workers for the Blind appeared before your subcommittee to testify against the "right to organize" bills introduced by many House Members. Congressman Bearing's bill, H.R. 14, was the first in this long list. I would like to make it a matter of record for your subcommittee, if it is not too late, that such an action is not supported by all members of the American Association of Workers for the Blind. As the association's membership chairman for Iowa, I oppose the stand, often called "official," taken by some leaders in the association. My action is supported by many other members. I would call your attention to the 1957 convention of the Western Conference of Teachers for the Adult Blind held in Las Vegas, Nev., in October 1957, which strongly endorsed bills to allow the blind their constitutional right to organize. Also, I enclose an article that may explain why the impression has been created that the AAWB stand before your committee was a unilateral one, which is not the The AAWB is an honorable organization; but in opposing the Bearing bill, the leadership of the association has made grave mistakes. case. |