EDUCATION AND ASSISTANCE TO THE BLIND

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1959

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION

OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, in room 528, House Office Building, at 10 a.m., Hon. Carl Elliott (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding.

Present: Representatives Elliott, Green, Daniels, Giaimo, Lafore, and Wainwright.

Also present: Representative Weir.

Also present: Mary P. Allen, subcommittee clerk, and Charles Backstrom, research assistant to subcommittee.

Mr. ELLIOTT. The subcommittee will be in order.

We meet this morning, my friends, under somewhat unusual circumstances. We heard our bill, H.R. 14, and related bills, all day yesterday. We were having trouble this morning; our friends who are interested in this bill have come from all over the country. I have said that we could meet in my office for a while. Chances are this afternoon we may be able to find another room. In the meantime, we will not be losing time, but trying to give all of those an opportunity to testify who desire to do so.

The first witness on this list this morning is Representative Thomas J. Lane, a Member of Congress from the State of Massachusetts, who has expressed himself as being interested in the two bills, or the two classes of bills, pending before the committee.

May I say to you, Mr. Lane, that we are very happy to have you. You may proceed at this time.

STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS J. LANE, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS

Mr. LANE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate, of course, the kind opportunity to say a few words here in reference to this legislation this morning, and to join with my other colleagues that are here from other sections of the country. I know they are vitally interested, as I am.

I want to compliment you, Mr. Chairman, for giving us all this opportunity for the entire week, hearing these people who have come from all sections of the country. In order to save your time, and to save the time of the other speakers who are to testify, I would just like to make a very short statement.

I am interested, as many of them, in this legislation, and of course, we are anxious to put forth some of our ideas to you, Mr. Chairman, and members of your subcommittee.

It is a well-known characteristic of American society that persons sharing a common interest or a concern, form organizations to give greater force to their opinions, and to freely meet and discuss, to arrive at conclusions and to make these conclusions known is an unquestioned right, sanctioned both by our constitutional determinations and the customs of our people established down through our history.

But to have value and to have force, these conclusions must be listened to and considered by those entrusted with the responsibility of serving all the people of any particular group of the people. In 45 States, Mr. Chairman, as you well know, of this Nation, blind men, blind women, have exercised this right to assemble, to organize, to make known their views on matters which have particular concern to the blind. These organizations are joined together in the National Federation of the Blind, the only countrywide organization which any blind person may join.

But in some parts of the United States, the right of the blind to join this organization has been questioned. Officials of agencies created for the sole purpose of serving the blind and financed in part by Federal funds have used their position to intimidate, coerce, and threaten blind persons, sad to say, of course, Mr. Chairman, who would have joined the local affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind. The blind of the Nation have long been a vital concern of the Congress of the United States. In programs of aid, you, of course, have been most active in your capacity as Congressman from your State in many, many of these programs-programs of aid and rehabilitation. You have fought for those on the floor of Congress, I know, Mr. Chairman, on many, many occasions, programs have been adopted so that these blind persons might better contend with the problems incidental to living in a sighted community.

On January 7, 1959, I introduced H.R. 187, a bill to protect the right of the blind to self-expression through organizations of the blind. On the 5th of last July, it was my happy privilege to attend the convention banquet of the National Federation of the Blind held in Boston, Mass.

I was invited to that banquet by members of an organization in my home area known as the Greater Lawrence Association of the Blind, with whom I have worked on occasions to assist in their projects. Massachusetts is not one of the States where the organized blind, the Associated Blind of Massachusetts, are struggling for the rights of blind people against the State agency for the blind. We have a very, very happy arrangement there, Mr. Chairman.

John F. Mungovan, director of the Massachusetts Division of the Blind, was also a guest at the same banquet and he was a speaker in the course of the convention.

In 1957, at the New Orleans convention of the National Federation of the Blind, Mr. Mungovan, who is the director of that agency in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, received the highest award of this organization for distinguished service to the blind.

On the 14th of August last, 1958, this same gentleman was reappointed by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for a new term as director of that State agency for the blind.

The Associated Blind of Massachusetts has worked long and hard for this reappointment and were responsible in great measure for the ultimate action of this reappointment. Blind men and women of all the States should have the same opportunity, Mr. Chairman, to organize and be consulted by the professional workers for the blind, as they have in many States and especially in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I sincerely hope this subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, will act favorably on these bills. I believe the programs for the blind in the Nation will benefit greatly with the administrators of these programs, consulting with the representative organizations of the blind on the formulation, and administration, and execution of programs designed to benefit the blind.

For the views of the blind of America to be of worth, they must be arrived at freely. No blind person should be denied nor dissuaded nor prohibited from joining with others, possessing a similar disability.

Mr. Chairman, and members of your subcommittee, your favorable action on these bills will, of course, assure this.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the privilege of testifying here this morning before your committee.

Mr. ELLIOTT. May I express my thanks to you, Mr. Lane, for your kindness in coming this morning and testifying in behalf of your bill, H.R. 187, which is an identical bill with the one introduced by myself and by Mr. Baring of Nevada, and several others that are pending before the committee.

Would you, Mr. Lane, endorse as well another group of bills that are before the committee that provide for the setting up of a commission to do a thorough study on the problems of the blind with a view toward working out such legislative programs as may be advisable to expand opportunities for the blind throughout America?

Mr. LANE. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling those bills to my attention.

May I go on record as in favor of those, because I think action is long overdue to help and assist these blind people.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much.

Mr. LANE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very, very much.

Mr. ELLIOTT. The Chair is now happy to recognize the gentlewoman from Illinois, Mrs. Marguerite Stitt Church.

STATEMENT OF HON. MARGUERITE STITT CHURCH, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

Mr. ELLIOTT. Mrs. Church, we are happy to have you appear before our subcommittee. We regret the conditions are not what the people commonly call optimum these days, but I know the message you bring will be very fine and very helpful to us, and we thank you for

coming.

I

Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for letting me come. wonder if you would let me add one word. As I sat here under conditions which you claim not to be the optimum, it occurred to me that perhaps meeting under such conditions was the greatest evidence that we could give of our interests in the subject which we have

under discussion. I have felt inspired by the gathering, and very much urged on to meet the need.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you, Mrs. Church.

Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I greatly appreciate the priviledge of appearing before this subcommittee in support of my own bill, H.R. 4793, which seeks to create a temporary Advisory Committee for the Blind. Knowing that there will be present many experts who wish to testify on the need for such legislation, my own testimony will be brief and succinct. The briefness of my testimony, however, is no indication of the depth and strength of my conviction that action of this nature will bring untold advantages to the blind and to the community.

For many, many years I have been personally sympathetic to the problems of the blind. Although, Mr. Chairman, I did not include the fact in my statement. I felt here this morning, I would like to add the word that my own mother was blind during a considerable portion of her life, and her own courage and her own ability to make a full life for herself despite that handicap, has led me to feel that any paltry effort I might make would be, indeed, a mere expression of what is in my heart for the people who are so handicapped.

It was, however, during the 82d and 83d Congresses, when I became so closely affiliated with organizations and individuals working in behalf of the blind, that I became fully aware of the steps that must be taken both to aid and to turn toward productive living those citizens handicapped by blindness.

As a result of their cooperation, in the 83d Congress, at long last, the measure which I had introduced, the so-called fireworks bill, to ban the bootlegging of fireworks into States where the sale or use thereof was prohibited by State law, finally was passed and became Public Law 385. That law was a preventative measure against blindness. H.R. 4793, on the other hand, has been introduced in the hope that, from the committee study proposed, methods and measures might be developed which would prove beneficial to those already blind. As undoubtedly pointed out in previous testimony, there are, at the Federal levvel, numerous laws involving the blind, and a great many different agencies engaging in the administration of such laws. The same situation holds true in regard to various States and local communities. This wide variety of laws, as well as the great number of agencies involved, leads inevitably to duplication of effort, confusion, and inefficiency; and the actual benefits received therefrom by the blind are accordingly less than could be expected from the amount of labor and expense involved.

H.R. 4793 would establish a temporary National Advisory Committee for the Blind for the purpose of investigation and study of the entire field of existing Federal, State, and local activities related to the granting of services to the blind, including the history and development of such activity.

Such Committee, within a 2-year period after enactment of this legislation, would report to the President and to the Congress the results of their investigations and study, together with recommendations on how to achieve greater coordination of and more effective results from programs for the blind; how to attain maximum benefits for the blind; and other matters deemed appropriate by the Committee.

The bill calls for a Committee of nine members in order to avoid the unwieldiness that might prove detrimental if the Committee were too large in number. Also, the expenses involved with a larger Committee would be much greater. Each of the nine members must be already familiar with work for the blind and shall be appointed by the President as follows:

(1) One individual from the executive branch of the Federal Government.

(2) One individual from the Senate of the United States.

(3) One individual from the House of Representatives of the United States.

(4) One individual from among officers and employees of the State governments.

(5) One individual from a national association of professional workers with the blind.

(6) One individual from a national organization of the blind.

(7) One individual from a national research organization for the blind.

(8) One individual from the field of education of the blind. (9) One individual from the public at large.

Since the introduction of this bill, Mr. Chairman, it has come to my attention that many who share my interest in this problem feel that one member of the Committee should be an optometrist. If this committee so decides and amends the bill to substitute 11 members for the 9 presently specified in H.R. 4793, and with further provision that 1 of the 11 shall be an optometrist, I shall gladly accept the amendment. May I express the hope that the subcommittee and later the full Committee on Education and Labor will report out the measure to the House with recommendations for its prompt enactment by the Congress.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Mrs. Church, I thank you very much for that fine statement in behalf of your bill, H.R. 4793, to create a temporary Advisory Commission for the Blind.

I would like to ask this one question: Should we decide to increase the number of the Committee from 9 to 11, and include an optometrist as the 10th one, do you have suggestions as to whom we might include for the 11th?

Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, I am glad you asked that question. It occurred to me that perhaps to give the President the latitude of appointing one without direction might bring on to the Committee somebody of whom we might not think as falling into a specified field, but it might even be somebody, I suppose, from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, but I didn't care to tie it down by putting a further restriction in the bill.

Mr. ELLIOTT. You think it is important that the House and Senate be represented?

Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, I think there is an advantage in having a liaison between any committee that makes a study and the House and Senate that enacts legislation that may be called for.

I have found in previous experience, for instance, that when the Hoover Commission recommendations came into the Committee on Government Operations, it was very valuable to have both Mr. Holifield and Mr. Brown who could trace the history of why something was asked. I think also, if I may say this with humility and modesty, that