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149
A Government Survey revealed that there are approximately
3 million adults living at home who are, in some way, mentally
or physically handicapped and, of these, 1¼ million are appreciably
or severely affected. About 200,000 families with handicapped
people need rehousing or improvements to existing accommodation
because they lack an indoor W.C. A further 150,000 severely
handicapped people are living in housing which is inadequate in
that some rooms are inaccessible or that the "lay-out" is such that
they have to sleep in the living room. Other facts to come to light
were that ⅔rds of all handicapped people are women, 70% of
whom are over 65 years, and that 1 in 5 lives alone.
Physically Handicapped
Departmental registers cover not only the blind and partially
sighted but the deaf and dumb and those persons severely or
permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity.
Efforts made to make these registers more comprehensive is shown
by the overall total which, at the end of the year, was 116 higher
than that for 1969.
The following table gives the numbers in the various registers
and compares the rates per 1,000 population with those for England

*per 1,000 population
Almost 1,000 old persons, not registered as physically handicapped,
were reported by the geriatric visitors as being deaf or
hard of hearing.