A characteristic of social policy evolution is the way in which certain groups become identified as worthy of specialist concern. This article shows how visually impaired people acquired a separate identity for the purpose of social policy provision and discusses the implications of blind registration procedures. It charts, over the period 1834-1988, not only the rise but also the decline of specialist provision.
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References
1.
Poor Relief Act, 1601, S.6.
2.
Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1878
3.
Haswell, D.O. , ( 1874), The Social Condition of the Blind, National Sunday League.
4.
Report of the Royal Commission on the Blind, Deaf and Dumb, 1889, Vol I, HMSO.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Report of the Departmental Committee on the Welfare of the Blind , 1917, HMSO, p.7.
7.
Census Act, 1920
8.
The Post Office (Literature for the Blind) Act, 1906, The Post Office Act , 1908
9.
Bourdillon, A.F.C., (1945), Voluntary Social Services- their place in the modern state, Methuen, p.64.
10.
Report of the Departmental Committee on the Welfare of the Blind, 1917, HMSO, p.50.
11.
Circular 7BD, 1919.
12.
Public Record Office, Housing and Local Government, 29/124, 7th July 1919.
13.
Report of the Proceedings at the Annual Trades Union Congress , 1918, pp.365-367.
14.
Advisory Committee on the Welfare of the Blind , Handbook on the Welfare of the Blind, 1939, p.2; Preface to the First Edition, 1927.
15.
Report of the Prevention of Blindness Committee, 1931, p.3.
16.
Beveridge Report, 1942, HMSO, p.69.
17.
Abel, R.A., An Investigation into Some Aspects of Visual Handicap, 1976, HMSO.
18.
The Disability Alliance ERA (1988), Disability Rights Handbook, April 1988-April 1989, pp.13-14.
19.
Social Services Inspectorate, DHSS, (1988), A Wider Vision, DHSS , p.8.
