Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 20 (1/2)
Ireland.
According to the census of 1901, there were 4253 totally blind persons in Ireland, a proportion of 954 per million, as against 1135 in 1891.
Of these, 2430 were over 60 years of age and 11 over 100. These figures do not include the partially blind, who numbered 1217. The fact that so many aged blind persons are to be found in Ireland is doubtless due to an ophthalmic epidemic which occurred during the Irish famine. There are twelve inst.i.tutions, a home mission and home teaching society; nine of these inst.i.tutions are asylums, that system having been largely adopted in Ireland. The scarcity of manufacturing industries, except in a few northern counties, entails a lack of work suited to the blind. The Elementary Education Act (Blind and Deaf) does not extend to Ireland.
The following table gives the number of blind in age-groups in 1901:--
+---------------+---------+----------------+---------+
Age-Period.
Number.
Age-Period.
Number.
+---------------+---------+----------------+---------+
Under 5 years
10
50-55
392
5-10
38
55-60
314
10-15
64
60-65
617
15-20
73
65-70
382
20-25
95
70-75
540
25-30
116
75-80
306
30-35
146
80-85
372
35-40
146
85-90
118
40-45
205
95 and upwards
95
45-50
224
+---------------+---------+----------------+---------+
British Colonies.
In the Dominion of Canada, South Africa, the states of the Australian Commonwealth and New Zealand, provision is made by the government for the education of the young blind, and in some cases for training the adults in handicrafts. Embossed literature is carried free of expense, and on the Victorian railways no charge is made for the guide who accompanies a blind person.
The following were the census returns for 1901:--
Victoria 1082 Tasmania 173 New South Wales 884 New Zealand 274 (1891) South Australia 315 Natal 68 Queensland 209 Cape Colony 2802 (1904) West Australia 121 Canada 3279
In Australia there are inst.i.tutions for the blind at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brighton, Brisbane and Maylands near Perth. In New Zealand the inst.i.tution is at Auckland.
In Cape Colony between 1875 and 1891, there was an extraordinary increase in blindness, but between 1891 and 1904 the rate per 10,000 has decreased 23.78%. There is an inst.i.tution at Worcester for deaf-mutes and blind, founded in 1881. It is supported by a government grant, fees and subscription.
Schools for the blind were established by the Dominion government at Brantford, Ontario (1871), and Halifax, Nova Scotia (1867).
In Montreal there are two private inst.i.tutions, the M'Kay Inst.i.tute for Protestant Deaf-Mutes and Blind, and a school for Roman Catholic children under the charge of the Sisters of Charity.
United States.
In the United States the education of the blind is not regarded as a charity, but forms part of the educational system of the country, and is carried on at the public expense. According to the _Annual Report_ of the Commissioner of Education for 1908, there were 40 state schools, with 4340 pupils. The value of apparatus, grounds and buildings was $9,201,161. For salaries and other expenditure, the aggregate was $1,460,732. The United States government appropriates $10,000 annually for printing embossed books, which are distributed among the different state schools for the blind. Beside these state schools, there are workshops for the blind subsidized by the state government or the munic.i.p.ality. Commissions composed of able men have recently been appointed in several of the states to take charge of the affairs of the blind from infancy to old age. The exhaustive summary of the 12th census enables these commissions to communicate with every blind person in their respective states.
At the 12th census a change was made in the plan for securing the returns, and the work of the enumerators was restricted to a brief preliminary return, showing only the name, s.e.x, age, post office address, and nature of the existing defects in all persons alleged to be blind or deaf. Dr Alexander Graham Bell, of Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., was appointed expert special agent of the census office for the preparation of a report on the deaf and blind. He was empowered to conduct in his own name a correspondence relating to this branch of the census inquiry.
A circular containing eighteen questions was addressed to every blind person given in the census, and from the data contained in the replies the following tables (I., II., III., IV.) have been compiled.
TABLE I.--_The Blind, by Degree of Blindness and s.e.x._
+----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
The
The
The
s.e.x.
Blind.
Totally
Partially
Blind.
Blind.
+----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
Number--
Total
64,763
35,645
29,118
Male
37,054
20,144
16,190
Female
27,709
15,501
12,208
+----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
Per cent distribution--
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
Male
57.2
56.5
58.1
Female
42.8
43.5
41.9
Number per 1,000,000
population of same s.e.x--
Both s.e.xes
852
469
383
Male
955
519
436
Female
745
417
328
+----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
TABLE II.--_The Blind, by Degree of Blindness, Age-Periods, Colour and Nativity._
+--------------------------+----------+----------------------------+----------+
White.
Degree of Blindness and
All +--------+---------+---------+ Coloured.
Age-Period.
Cla.s.ses.
Total.
Native.
Foreign-
born.
+--------------------------+----------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
Number--
The blind
64,763
56,535
45,479
10,694
8228
Under 20 years
8,308
7,252
6,937
231
1056
20 years and over
56,165
49,067
38,388
10,420
7098
Age unknown
290
216
154
43
74
+--------------------------+----------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
The totally blind
35,645
30,359
23,636
6,511
5286
Under 20 years
4,123
3,543
3,377
129
580
20 years and over
31,363
26,704
20,179
6,636
4639
Age unknown
159
112
80
19
27
+--------------------------+----------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
The partially blind
29,118
26,176
21,843
4,183
2942
Under 20 years
4,185
3,709
3,560
102
476
20 years and over
24,802
22,363
18,209
4,057
2439
Age unknown
131
104
74
24
27
+--------------------------+----------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
Number per 1,000,000