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The welfare service as we know it is a hotch-potch of specific provisions, unrelated
to any considered view of what the purpose of the service should be. Holidays and
outings, for example, have a part to play in any scheme but they should only be a supplementary
service. In practice, they represent a major element in voluntary effort and
even in some cases of welfare department activities. The aims of any service dealing
with the handicapped should be to help the handicapped person towards personal
independence and financial independence.
Towards personal independence, which is the more easily achieved but not sufficiently
considered, the welfare services can help by providing aids to daily living. In
the home they can arrange, and in some authorities, pay for the provision of ramps, rails,
hoists and alterations to fittings such as doors, windows and kitchen equipment. Mobility
in the house and outside is of paramount importance. The National Health Service
and the Ministry of Labour provide wheel chairs, motor-propelled carriages and cars, but
except in a few authorities, where welfare committees will meet the cost of garages and
runways, the patients have to find £20 or so, or at least some part of these relatively small
sums. In such ways is the nationally provided ship spoilt for a ha'porth of municipal
tar.
From the time of his illness or injury every handicapped person has to re-learn
almost all the most rudimentary skills (e.g. eating and dressing) and to learn trick movements
to overcome his disability. Such is the power of adaptation that a woman born
with no arms and with one leg considerably shorter than the other has brought up a
healthy family of 6 children, fastening nappy pins, combing hair, cooking and eating
with her feet— and such is her degree of skill that her hobby is fine embroidery.
For those whose disability comes later in life, and whose adaptability is therefore
lessened, the Ministry of Labour has provided a large selection of domestic aids, such as
adapted cutlery, combs, nail files and safety razor holders; a list of more than 80 gadgets
is supplied.
Leisure time, so much prized by those of us who have too little of it, can be an
eternity of boredom and idleness to the severely handicapped in their homes. To
lighten it, voluntary associations have been able to supply wireless and television to
many people; so also have some welfare departments. More could be done by the
public libraries in organising mobile library services for the disabled as they do for the
schools— because for many of these people reading, watching television and listening are
the only enjoyments left. Similarly, a 'meals on wheels' service such as is now provided
for old people would benefit handicapped people living alone.
Loneliness is a severe problem for the housebound, and especially for those who
have become neurotically self-conscious about their handicap. They will not meet
other people, go out or be seen because of their deformity or facial contortion. The
patient must be helped by his relatives, friends and all who come in contact with him to
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