progress in this field, and I think we have still a long way to go so far as actual training is concerned. I think there have to be more centers, more personnel trained in order to train the handicapped, and there have to be more rehabilitation setups of a complete, overall nature. I think everybody realizes that private institutions are doing well; some of the States are doing well, and certainly the VA has done exceptionally well, but not everybody is a veteran. I think we have to pool all these things together in the placement of personnel as we go along and still increase the number of centers for really good rehabilitation. We need an overall big program where we train people to do the kind of work they can do. If it happens to be farming, dairy, poultry raising, watchmaking, whatever it is, we have to determine what a person can do and then train them in that direction. I think we are making strides, and I think it is a very necessary implementation to the whole handicapped problem. Mr. ELLIOTT. You think this is a necessary next step? Dr. SPENCE. I certainly do. Mr. ELLIOTT. Are you familiar with the training of specialists and doctors of physical medicine and technicians, the program which has been going on under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1954? Dr. SPENCE. I am not personally familiar with that to any great degree. I know it is being done, and I know what the physical medical setup is in the field of training the physicians in physical medicine, but I am not thoroughly familiar with the work that you mention. I do know it is going on, and I know in private enterprise there are a number of good agencies. I think Goodwill Industries was named. However, they merely scratch the surface. We have to really dig in, as we will do as time goes on, I am sure. There is no use in producing all these people, there is no use in rehabilitating them if you cannot get them working that machine and really going to work. Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much, Doctor. Your testimony has been very helpful, and we appreciate it. Dr. SPENCE. Thank you. Mr. ELLIOTT. Mr. Smith, who was to be our next witness, is not yet here, so we will call as our next witness Mrs. Grace Cleaves, of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Cleaves has a statement in writing. You may proceed in any manner you see fit, Mrs. Cleaves. STATEMENT OF MRS. GRACE H. CLEAVES, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mrs. CLEAVES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. After all the things that have been said by the two previous people, I really wonder what I can add, except for the fact that I might give it a personal touch. Being a physically handicapped person myself and having worked with some of these organizations whom they have mentioned-for instance, one of them being Goodwill Industries-strictly on a voluntary basis, Goodwill has done and is doing a lot of good, but, as Dr. Spence just said, they are only scratching the surface. I am grateful for this opportunity of appearing before your committee. In so doing I hope to be able to impress upon you the great 98325-58 -5 and most urgent need of aid for the millions of handicapped people in this country. Not only to point out our great need for help, but to point out to you the help we could be to ourselves and our country if more of us were gainfully employed. To be gainfully employed means to be properly placed in suitable employment where our particular handicap or disability is not a factor or hindrance, but rather in many instances an actual asset. There are thousands of handicapped people, now, this moment, that could be so employed-men and women who could be independent, self-supporting individuals. Also, there are thousands of us now employed, but not properly placed in employment. If so placed, we could and would be of far greater use to our fellow men and to the national-defense effort of our country. But, in order to accomplish this, we must have an adequate number of skilled, trained personnel to guide and assist us, an adequate number of selective placement personnel, people who are familiar with and who understand the employment problems of the handicapped. At this time we do have some personnel who do meet those requirements, but they are relatively few in comparison to the great need for them. Another problem is the availability of such personnel. It seems to me that the few we do have are more or less concentrated in certain areas, while in other areas there is practically none available. If I may, I would like to use myself as an example. I come from a small town in northwestern North Carolina, and at the time I was ready to graduate from high school and to make plans for the future, as to what type of work I could do or should do, or what fields were open to a person with my particular handicap, there was absolutely no one available to assist or counsel me. Nevertheless, I decided to enroll at the Woman's College, University of North Carolina, to further my education and hoping that perhaps there some good counseling would be available. I was in for a big disappointment. Not only was there no particular counseling available, but actually there was some question as to whether or not the college should accept a physically handicapped person like myself. After making a trip to the college for a personal interview, I finally convinced them to let me enter their school. While there I found it necessary to work in order to help pay my expenses, so I began to seek some type of work that I could do. One of the positions available was that of telephone operator for the college, and after observing the operator at work, I decided this would be a job I would be able to efficiently perform. Again I had to convince the authorities that I could operate the switchboard if they would only let me try. Thus I became a telephone operator. After leaving school, I came to the District of Columbia to seek employment. Again I met with great difficulties. Even though I was an experienced telephone operator, no one wanted to employ me. Finally I was given an interview by the Veterans' Administration hospital and employed as telephone operator-receptionist, and have been there now for over 15 years. With all due modesty, I believe I can say that I have done a good job, but I do feel that I could be of much greater service to my fellow man, and especially the handicapped individuals, if I were actively engaged in the field of voca tional rehabilitation. Once again I have encountered the same problem of where to go for counseling and guidance. I have talked with officials of my hos pital, many other Government officials, prominent doctors in this area, the Chairman of the President's Committee and the Deputy Administrator of the Veterans' Administration. All agree that I am in the wrong position, that I could be of much greater service, and be used to a much greater advantage, if properly placed. Yet no one seems to know just where I should be placed, or exactly what type of placement I should have, or just where to refer me for the proper information. So may I again point out to you that even in my own case, let alone the thousands of less fortunate ones, there is the most urgent and drastic need for a National Committee for the Training and Development of Selective Placement Personnel. Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very, very much, Mrs. Cleaves, for that very fine statement. I might say that people who have overcome their handicaps, as you have done, are an inspiration to those of us who do not have any handicaps, as well as to the great number of people who do. I am sure of that. Mrs. CLEAVES. Thank you. I feel that I am one of the more fortunate ones. It is the ones that are so less fortunate who really need the help. Mr. ELLIOTT. Mr. Nicholson, do you have any questions? Mr. ELLIOTT. Our next witness is Mr. Thomas H. Burke, the national legislative director of the United Auto Workers. Tom Burke is a former Member of Congress, and a former member of this committee. I would like to say to you, Mr. Burke, that we are happy to have you back and happy to have your testimony at this time. STATEMENT OF THOMAS H. BURKE, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, UNITED AUTO WORKERS Mr. BURKE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I might say at the outset that my testimony is sort of a delayed reaction. I am appearing here in lieu of our director of older and retired workers department, Mr. Charles E. Odell, whom we have recently been very fortunate in obtaining from the Department of Labor, where he served with much distinction for a good many years in this particular field. I might also ask permission, Mr. Chairman, because of the difficulty in transmission between Detroit and here, and the time available, that I can file with the clerk of the committee later in the day the required mimeographed copies of the testimony. I shall furnish to the reporter this copy from which I am reading now. Mr. ELLIOTT. Without objection, the request from the gentleman is granted. Mr. Burke, you may proceed with your presentation. Mr. BURKE. This, Mr. Chairman, is Mr. Odell's statement [reading]: My name is Charles E. Odell, I am employed as director of the older and retired workers department of the UAW. It is my responsibility to coordinate the activities of the union in behalf of older and retired members and to see to it that the needs and interests of these members are reflected not only in the union's programs but also in collective bargaining, in local, State, and Federal legislation, and in community programs and activities for the aged. Prior to my appointment by President Reuther to this job, I was a special assistant to the Under Secretary of Labor in charge of the older workers programs of the United States Department of Labor. I have also worked in the Department of Labor in varying capacities for 20 years as a specialist on the counseling, placement, and rehabilitation of special groups of workers, including the handicapped and the older workers. In the light of this experience, I can say with great conviction that H. R. 9171, as introduced by Congressman Elliott and sponsored by Paul Strachan in behalf of AFPH, is vitally important to the welfare of handicapped and older persons in the United States. No single aspect of the related fields of rehabilitation and gerontology requires more immediate attention than the professional development of qualified selective placement interviewers and counselors. The work of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and of the United States Employment Service, has done much to increase job opportunities for the handicapped and for older workers. However, these programs have not given proper emphasis to the complex and time-consuming job of scientific, selective placement. While much progress has been made in the general training of rehabilitation counselors under the provisions of the Vocational Rehabilitation Amendments of 1954, these provisions have not been used effectively to train selective placement personnel. This is so primarily because of limitations placed on the number of placement personnel who are admitted to such training by the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and on the time and funds authorized to support such personnel in training by the Bureau of Employment Security and by State employment security agencies. H. R. 9171 would overcome these limitations by making clear the intent of Congress that job placement shall become an essential element in the whole program on services to the handicapped and by placing a clear responsibility on the Secretary of Labor in seeing to it that sufficient funds are provided so that professional competent staff is developed and trained to perform selective placement work throughout the Nation. There is an unfortunate tendency in present programs to work primarily with the less severaly handicapped and to pass by as unfeasible of rehabilitation and job placement those who are more severely disabled. This defeats the basic intent of the entire rehabilitation program and denies to the severely disabled their fair opportunity to become taxpayers and producers instead of tax-supported invalids. Only a better trained and professionally competent selection placement staff in local employment offices and in other public and private agencies can significantly improve this situation. H. R. 9171 is a practical, hard-headed, economy-minded piece of legislation. It will save the taxpayers millions of dollars in health, welfare, and hospitalization costs now being expended to support the severely handicapped in state of invalidism. By putting emphasis on the training of competent, selective placement staff, the Congress will be helping these groups to find remunerative employment and curtailing the high cost of institutional and welfare services. 333 I am proud to say that I have worked closely with Paul Strachan for many years and that I helped him draft the original language which is incorporated into H. R. 9171. I feel it is a good bill and one which will serve well the needs and interests of working men and women everywhere in America. A good job has been done in promoting the idea that "it is good business to hire the handicapped." Now it is time to apply good business principles to the administration of the program. One solid step in this direction will be to mobilize the specialized training resources of the country to select, train, and utilize professional, competent selective placement staff. Mr. Chairman, all I can say is that I add my "Amens" to Mr. Odell's statement. Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much, Mr. Burke, for appearing before us and giving us the benefit of your views with reference to this legislation, and for bringing us the statement of Mr. Odell, who is unable to be here at this time. Mr. BURKE. I might say that Mr. Odell is scheduled this morning to appear at Purdue University to teach a class in just this sort of work today and tomorrow. Mr. NICHOLSON. Do any other colleges have a course in this field? Mr. BURKE. The course that he is teaching will be taught through the facilities of Purdue on behalf of the union for some of their classes in placement. This, of course, has received some attention throughout the years in the automobile industry both on the part of labor and management, I might say. We have had some good placement officers, but not enough of them, people who are handicapped, and who can go in and demonstrate just what handicapped people can do in jobs. Mr. ELLIOTT. Has the automobile industry done a good job in finding employment for people who become handicapped in that industry? Mr. BURKE. I would not say a good job, but I would say a fair to middling job. Mr. ELLIOTT. Have they done a better than average job? Mr. BURKE. Probably, at least in those cases with which I have had experience. In my home area from the time of the beginning of the national defense program in 1939 we started directing attention to the problem, and although I still would not call it a good job, at least some progress was made. Mr. ELLIOTT. Has the matter of reemployment of automobile workers who become disabled or handicapped in the course of their employment been made a matter of contract between the employers and the employees in the auto industry? Mr. BURKE. Not a matter of contract. It is a matter of day-to-day working. Where a person is injured in the plant there is a natural desire on the part of both the management and the union to find a method of employing that person for many reasons. As has been stated, the employer finds that it is more economical to do so than to pay the necessary compensation for that injury. What I was speaking of mostly was incidents where handicapped people who were not injured in the industry were brought into the industry where special arrangements were made in the seniority set |