View report page

142
Many other concessionary facilities are also available for
Registered Blind Persons who are given any necessary help and
advice in taking advantage of them, for example:—
(a) Specialised apparatus such as braille watches, clocks,
playing cards, etc., may be obtained at special discount
terms from the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Such
purchases are often grant-aided by voluntary societies.
(b) The Guide Dog for the Blind Association will both supply
the dog and train the blind person how to use it. Registered
blind persons are exempt from paying dog licences when the
dog is used for guide purposes.
(c) The Nuffield Talking Book Library provides talking books
at a cost of £2. 0s. 0d. a year. (The Council makes a capitation
grant of 10/- a year in respect of each person participating
in the scheme.)
(d) The National Library for the Blind provides a library
service for Braille and Moon readers. There are also special
magazines for the blind and Braille and Moon copies of
letter-press magazines, which are published by voluntary
societies, are circulated by the department to groups of
blind readers.
(e) Special facilities are available to enable blind persons to vote
at elections.
(f) Additional Income Tax relief may be claimed from H.M.
Inspector of Taxes.
Welfare of the Physically Handicapped
The following table gives a breakdown of the main conditions
registered with the department. It will be seen that, in accounting
for 32% of the total registrations, the rheumatic group continues to
take pride of place with 'organic nervous diseases' comprising some
31 %. Of this latter figure, almost one half were hemi or paraplegics
and one third spastics and polio victims.
Much can be done to minimise handicaps arising from neurological
lesions; consultations with specialists in the clinical field
and with experts in physical medicine and orthopaedics are essential
if modern advances in therapeutics and rehabilitation are to be
allowed to play their full part.