A Review of the Work Accomplished by the Blind Relief Commission of Hamilton County,Ohio 1

Abstract

Editor's Note. — The pensions for the blind of Ohio are dispensed by unpaid county commissioners. Each of the eighty-eight commissions is composed of three persons. The care with which some of these boards are beginning their work is admirably shown by the following paper. At the same time that these “Pension Commissions” were created a State Commission for the Blind was established. The County Commissions have the single problem of the State Commission that of finding employment and of ameliorating, in any way possible, the condition of the blind. Dr. Stricker clearly portrays the condition of the blind who have had no friendly organization to which to turn for advice, help, or work. Professor Van Cleve explains what the State School is doing for the juvenile blind. Mr. Charles F. F. Campbell presented a paper at the Ohio Conference of Charities and Correction to the same audience addressed by Dr. Stricker and Professor Van Cleve to show what is possible for the blind along industrial lines. Space does not permit us to print his paper, but our readers can find full information regarding the workshops for the blind in the United States at the end of the July, 1908, Vol. II, No. 2. In connection with the movement in behalf of the blind which is now developing in Ohio, it is interesting to consider the results of the systematic “field work” conducted by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, which is ably set forth in Miss Lucy Wright's paper.

It is clear to every one that the aggregation of the indigent blind throughout the country is a result of the lack of attention in the past. The Ohio pension is an attempt to relieve the needs of this accumulated group of neglected people. One of the chief purposes of the schools, workshops, societies, and state commissions for the blind is to prevent such accumulations in the future.