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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 10s. 0d. 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 letterpress 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 370 (33%) out of a total of 1,124, "organic nervous diseases"
form the largest group of which two-fifths were hemi or paraplegics
and one-third spastics or polio victims. With a figure of
340 (30%), rheumatic disability constitutes the next largest section
and, of these, 36 per cent, were classified as rheumatoid arthritis.
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.