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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 or Taxes.
Welfare of the Physically Handicapped
A breakdown of the main conditions registered with the department
is given in the following tables. It will be seen that, in
accounting for 486 (34.4%) out of a total of 1,412, "organic
nervous diseases" form the largest group of which over two-fifths
were hemi or paraplegics and one-third spastics or polio victims.
With a figure of 410 (28.7%), rheumatic disability constitutes the
next largest section and, of these, one-third were classified as
rheumatoid arthritis.
Much can be done to minimise handicaps arising from neurological
lesions; consulations 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.