Blind Ex-Servicemen

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 33, 31 March 1948, Page 4

Blind Ex-Servicemen

Work Of Saint Dunstan's" At Auckland "The blind boys have a bond of comradeship that does not exist between sighted people," said Mr W. H. Niel a former inmate of Little Saint Dunstan's, the blind training school at the Mangaititi golf course, Auckland, while talking with a Beacon representative last week. This school is run on an occupational therapy system that is designed to get the men's minds off themselves, Mr Niel went on to say. All classes of work are carried on there such as leather goods manufacture, armature winding, and even carpentry and furniture making, in which trade the men become- so efficient that they are able to use circular says and band saws. One, 90 per cent, blind, runs his own farm of approximately 30 acres. The New Zealand St. Dunstan's is run by the English counterpart of the same name and.is under a New Zealand board of directors. The Principal of the school is Mr J. McGuire who has been blind for 46 years. To assist with the care of the men there is a fully trained sister, with five V.A.D.'s. The men in the institution, Mr Niel said, have not the same chances of obtaining exercise as. others, hence special, machines are provided, such as a machine that gives the effect of walking to those who have not yet learned the art of walking "in the dark," operated tread-mill fashion. There are also a stationary cycle and a rowing-trainer. There have been quite a number of men pass out of the school since its foundation in 1945, and at present there are 17 inmates, besides 15 out-patients who are. collected and returned home each day. To complete a course takes two years. This institution has succeeded in all its aims, to get the blind returned men's minds off their misfortune and rehabilitate them in an independent occupation, concluded Mr Niel.