Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1909 — Blindness Among Children A Crime of Ignorance. [ARTICLE]

Blindness Among Children A Crime of Ignorance.

By EDWARD VAN CLEVE.

Superintendent of the State School For the Blind. Columbus. O.

DESPITE laws for prevention, BLINDNESS AMONG CHILDREN IS INCREASING. The outlook for lessening blindness by prevention of infantile cases is not so encouraging BECAUSE OF PUBLIC IGNORANCE. A blind youth should be more of a curiosity than he is, but few people know that about half of all who are blind from infancy might be seeing. THEIR MISFORTUNE IS A CRIME OF IGNORANCE. THE GREATEST PROBLEM WITH WHICH EDUCATORS OF THE BLIND HAVE TO DEAL IS TRAINING THEM TO ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY. TRADE SCHOOLS FOR THE SEEING ARE NOW IN A F6W CITIES AN ACTUALITY, BUT FOR THE BLIND THEY HAVE BEEN IN EXISTENCE MANY YEARS. For some, business offers a good field, and schools for the blind are now offering practical business courses. Professional careers are open to competent men, and there are notable successes in the pro- . session. The outlook for successful employment is brighter because the general public at last is AWAKENING TO THE FACT THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT NECESSARILY A DETERRENT FROM PRODUCTIVE LABOR, and there is coming to be a spirit of willingness to let the sightless man have a chance to earn his own broad.