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The washing machine and the spin dryer have revolutionised the former heavy work of
washing and the most suitable appliances for the particular handicapped person should be
carefully chosen.
The handicapped housewife also needs adjustment and help in performing household
duties in parts of the house other than in the kitchen. Dustpans and brushes with long handles
and very light carpet sweepers are available in large stores and are as useful to the ablebodied
as to the disabled. A broom with a trough armpiece fixed along the end of the handle
and a right-angled handgrip about 12" away overcomes the difficulties experienced by a onehanded
person in sweeping.
Specially adapted or designed gardening tools are available and for those unable to
bend the raised garden provides great pleasure both for those who are stiff and those who are
wheelchair users.
A national campaign to make public buildings and facilities accessible to the disabled
was sponsored originally by the Central Council for the Disabled, and is now continued by
the Disabled Living Foundation, and Local Authorities have been asked to give consideration
to the needs of the elderly and the handicapped when studying applications for the erection of
public buildings. The British Standards Institution has published a Code of Practice on the
subject.
B.Warshaw
Chief Welfare Officer
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Contributed by Elizabeth Cooper, B.A.
FAMILY SURVEY - M.R.C. CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOUR UNIT
There have been two main developments in the Unit's work in the Borough since the
last report was written. The earlier attempts to develop quantitative measures of the activities
and interactions of small children have been extended using observational methods supplemented
by video and sound recording. We have also been given access by the Education
Department to a number of schools in the area and a study is under way which examines the
child's behaviour in the classroom during his first year at school. This is being related to his
teacher's attitudes towards him, his pre-school experiences, social class and ethnic origins.
In 1969 a study was completed on a group of 4½ year old children from a wide variety
of home and ethnic origins whose behaviour in problem solving situations was the focus of
attention. Our interest was in behavioural differences in the way immigrant and English born
children tackled test problems. An extension of this study is now being run with 5½ year old
children using video equipment, a simple test of vocabulary and a more detailed analysis of
behaviour.
Also completed in 1969 were two studies of children whose mothers had unusual
characteristics - in one the mothers were excessively houseproud and in the other they were
either highly rigid or highly permissive in their attitudes. The main aim of these studies was
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