up, for instance, where special jobs were found where they could be fitted in or their handicap could be fitted into the industry, and special studies were made. For instance, one thing that I remember, or one example that I remember very graphically, is a case where we had what we call a tumbling machine, which is an extremely noisy thing. It knocks the scale off forgings by tumbling them with little, steel stars in a big tumbling barrel, and it drove the average hearing person crazy. We were able to place deaf mutes on that particular job, and they just ate it up. It was a wonderful thing for them. It did not bother them in the least. Mr. NICHOLSON. You have done more in preventing accidents probably than taking care of them after they have been incapacitated. Mr. BURKE. Yes; accident prevention has been one of our fortes, as far as that goes. In fact, when I was in Congress, I introduced the uniform safety standards bill that was never passed, but which has been a sort of a perennial bill in this committee with and parallel with the mine safety bill that Congressman McConnell pushed through, I think in the 83d Congress. Mr. ELLIOTT. What is Mr. Odell's office in the United Automobile Workers? Mr. BURKE. He is now director of retired and older workers department. Since the negotiation of the pension and welfare plans in 1950, the problem has been growing. For instance, in my local union alone, we have over 2,000 retired members at the present time. So, the question as to what to do for and with the retired members has been a real problem, and as I said, we were very fortunate in obtaining Mr. Odell. We sort of stole him from the Labor Department for this particular job. Mr. ELLIOTT. To me it has always seemed unfortunate that we have made as little effort as we have made as a nation to employ the physically handicapped, and I mean by that finding employment which they can do with pride and with ability, and likewise, that we thus far have done as little as we have done to utilize the wonderful capabilities of people who are of the retirement age. Mr. BURKE. That is exactly right. We have had many taboos to tear down. Probably the most outstanding of them is the taboo against having handicapped people come in because they may not be able to do the work. That is the feeling on the part of some people in management, and even some people in labor. Then, there is also the taboo which we have had to overcome of the possibility of a handicapped person being more susceptible to injury in the plant and, therefore, raising the compensation rates of the employer. The finding on that particular taboo has been that usually the handicapped worker is a safer worker than an unhandicapped one, because he has a desire to show that he can do it and that it is possible for him to work safely. I have seen blind people working on drill presses much more safely than sighted people. Mr. ELLIOTT. If there are no further questions, Mr. Burke, we thank you very much for your appearance here today. Mr. BURKE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ELLIOTT. Our next witness this morning is Mr. George A. Crago, of Harrisburg, Pa. Mr. Crago, did I pronounce your name correctly ? Mr. ELLIOTT. Mr. Crago has furnished us with a statement which has been made available to the members of the committee, and you may read that statement, Mr. Crago, or proceed in any other manner that you may desire. STATEMENT OF GEORGE A. CRAGO, PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, THE GENERAL STATE AUTHORITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND A NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED Mr. CRAGO. Chairman Elliott and members of the committee, my name is George A. Crago. I am public-relations officer for the General State Authority of Pennsylvania and a national director of the American Federation of the Physically Handicapped. I might add parenthetically that the authority is a financing and building organization which builds buildings through the sale of bonds, and rents them to the State. That will explain how the authority operates. The State of Pennsylvania has a $1 million debt limitation by constitution; so it has to have a means of circumventing that in order to obtain money to carry out the program of public works. Mr. ELLIOTT. What does this authority build primarily-school buildings? Mr. CRAGO. No; we build institutions and facilities for departments of the State, all the way from dams and desilting basins up to complete institutions such as prison institutions and State office buildings, and that sort of thing. It serves the needs of the State itself, and does not go into any lower political subdivision except the State departments. It is a high honor and a privilege to appear before this Subcommittee on Special Education to express my support of House bill 9171, which would create a National Committee for the Training and Development of Selective Placement Personnel. The State agency with which I am connected at present is financing and directing the construction of a $9 million rehabilitation center at Johnstown, Pa. This center will have a maximum capacity of 400. It is the only one of its kind in the United States because it was built "from the ground up" for the specific purpose of training physically handicapped persons to become financially self-sustaining. It might be well to add there that I do not mean that this is the only rehabilitation center in the United States, but it is the only one to our knowledge that was built as the result of a survey and a study of previously built institutions. In other words, we have benefited from the experiences of others so that we do have a new approach in considerable detail of the actual construction of this building such as floor type of heating and the use of ramps throughout. There are no steps in the institution, and that sort of thing. This institution has attracted worldwide attention because it reflects the thinking of the handicapped, themselves, in such institutions as the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center at Fisherville, Va. Students at that school told our architects and engineers what a modern center of that type should provide in the way of special facilities to meet the needs of physically handicapped persons seeking to learn how to make their maximum contribution to the social and economic life of their communities. I mention this new institution because it has a direct relationship to the proper placement of physically handicapped persons in jobs they are best able to fill. The rehabilitation centers at Johnstown, Fisherville, and elsewhere can do a superb job of training physically handicapped persons to make the best possible use of their skills, but if they are obliged, for any reason, to accept employment for which they are not suited, then the millions of dollars of public funds used to build such institutions and to train the handicapped is dissipated to a great extent. H. R. 9171 would charge the National Committee for the Training and Development of Selective Placement Personnel with the responsibility of determining how best to achieve the highly desirable goal of placing physically handicapped persons in proper employ ment. Of course, it is not nearly as simple as that. It is necessary for the committee to identify the areas of knowledge, competencies, skills, techniques, and methods involved in helping the physically handicapped achieve their great ambition, which is to be self-supporting and to feel that they are making a worthwhile contribution toward our society and our democratic way of life. The committee has a twofold objective, the other phase of which is to work with colleges, universities, public agencies, and private organizations in the development of courses of instruction in this field. Once the committee has cataloged areas of knowledge, skills, techniques, and the like, it will then be possible to render a valuable service to colleges and public and private agencies, which will instruct persons already engaged in employment counseling or job placement of the handicapped. This program also opens a new avenue of education for men and women who will be interested in making this type of job placement and employment counseling a career. Such a career can be rich in experience, in the rewards of helping deserving men and women to find their proper place in life, and even from a purely selfish point of view, an opportunity for specialization in a field which is becoming steadily more important in the economy of the Nation. The layman has difficulty in realizing that there are more than 25,000 different jobs in American industry, but that is a number compiled by experts. It makes it all the more apparent that selective placement of the physically handicapped is not a matter to be handled by amateurs, even though their intentions are of the best. Speaking in terms of millions and billions has become easy for Americans who have become accustomed to such astronomical figures, even though their actual conception of a billion or a million of anything is hazy, to say the least. Even so, when we think in terms of some 45 million Americans who have physical handicaps of varying degrees, and realize that there are as many as 8 million with serious physical handicaps, the need of House bill 9171 becomes crystal clear. This bill is an all-important first step toward the long-range highly commendable American goal of the right job for every citizen who wants to work. Dire necessity during the Second World War and the Korean conflict proved to American industry that physically handicapped workers are a most valuable national asset. In wartime, men and women with severe handicaps tackled important jobs and turned in a wonderful record of performance, far beyond what anyone had previously thought was possible. Without doubt, the handicapped surprised even themselves in the things they were able to accomplish, and the manner in which they took over jobs which were vacant because of the demands of the armed services. These developments opened the eyes of many persons in industry to the fact that in the handicapped was to be found a tremendous reservoir of manpower which could make an equally important contribution to the Nation's economy in peacetime, if handicapped persons had the proper training and were placed in the proper jobs. Members of this subcommittee are to be commended for devoting their time to this hearing on this very important piece of legislation. Commendation also is due to the chairman of the subcommittee who is sponsor of House Resolution 9171. Each of the six sections of the bill represents careful study of the subject and sets forth ways and means of achieving the objectives of the bill. This is particularly true of section 2 which would establish a pilot program covering the various phases of the legislation. As stated before, the bill represents a very significant step toward the goal of the right job for every American who wants to work, but it has still another aspect. The American Federation of the Physically Handicapped for a number of years has sought a top-level Federal agency which would coordinate the efforts of many branches of the Government in dealing with affairs of the handicapped. The federation has "beat the drums" for a Federal Agency for the Handicapped, and continues to press toward that important goal. However, the federation knows better than any other organization that placing its members and all other handicapped persons in gainful employment which makes the best possible use of their talents is the keystone of this greater program. For that reason we of the federation are "putting all our eggs in one basket" at this point, and we are exerting all our efforts toward the enactment of House bill 9171 at this session of the Congress. I am sure we will have the active support of the members of this subcommittee in behalf of the measure, and that through their efforts it shortly will become the law of the land. At this point, I wish to inform the members of the subcommittee that this bill has come to the attention of Gov. George M. Leader, of Pennsylvania, who has a keen, personal interest in the problems of the physically handicapped. The Governor's office has told me that he is watching the outcome of this piece of legislation, inasmuch as it would have an important, favorable impact on Pennsylvania's program of stimulating the employment of the physically handicapped. 98325-58- -6 Members of this subcommittee can readily understand how a committee established and functioning under this bill would help bring about an even more comprehensive and efficient coordination of Federal and State programs in Pennsylvania. Concern for the physically handicapped in Pennsylvania over the past decade has resulted in that State rehabilitating 5,794 persons in the past fiscal year, to lead the Nation in preparing and placing physically handicapped persons in gainful employment. You can understand, therefore, why we in Pennsylvania are greatly interested in the enactment of H. R. 9171 at this session of the Congress. Thank you. Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much, Mr. Crago. Mr. Crago, your testimony has been very helpful, and the committee appreciates your coming here to give us the benefit of it. Mr. CRAGO. Thank you, sir. Mr. ELLIOTT. Our next witness is Mr. Paul A. Strachan, president, American Federation of the Physically Handicapped. STATEMENT OF PAUL A. STRACHAN, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. STRACHAN. Mr. Chairman, as the committee knows, I am totally deaf; therefore, if you wish to interrogate me, please direct questions to my secretary, Miss Miller. I wish at this time to formally file my prepared statement for the record. Mr. ELLIOTT. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT OF PAUL A. STRACHAN, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. Chairman, in stressing the need for immediate enactment of H. R. 9171, I desire to point out that the weak spot in the program for our 50 million handicapped citizens today is selective placement. The relation of placement to other phases of the handicapped program is easy to perceive. If a man or woman cannot work, what is the reason therefor? Do they need medical, surgical, or therapeutic treatment? Education, training, or retraining, counseling, guidance? Once these lacks are supplied, there must then be, to complete a rounded-out job, selective placement, to put the individual into employment wherein his or her particular disability is not a factor. For example, a person may be totally deaf, but it has been shown that there are more than 400 different kinds of jobs into which that person may be fitted, jobs in which deafness is no barrier to excellent performance. In varying numbers the same holds true of amputations, blindness, cardiac troubles, cerebral palsy, diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, arthritis and rheumatism, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, and other crippling diseases and results of injuries, as well as congenital defects and deformities. Today, in the occupational directory, there are listed some 25,339 different jobs in industry, business, agriculture, etc., in the United States. By Herculean labors, these past 14 years, we have been able to show that some 10,000 of these jobs can be satisfactorily filled by the variously handicapped. We admit that in the preliminary surveys there are many instances of what we may well term "obvious cases," for example, a man who might have been a professional runner in earlier life, could not, in future life, continue to be a runner. It was necessary to train or retrain him for other work. |