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Show POT 6s rs nsiuuyy capped worker n no n L- n -J This Labor Day, unlike those of yesterday, has real meaning for the nation's disabled millions; it symbolizes that they have won a place in business and industry on merit, not on charity By JAMES P. MITCHELL, Secretary of Labor as told to Jack Harrison Pollack Not too long ago a handicapped person was almost as an act of charity. Nowadays the picture is changed. America's handicapped men and women have proved themselves in our competitive economy. k In contrast to their prospects of yesteryear, the almost eight million handicapped often-blea- persons in today's labor force can rely on useful and productive jobs. Last year for example, a record number of more than 300,000 physically handicapped workers found jobs through private placement agencies and rehabilitation programs, as well as through the U. S. Employment Service. ...j This dramatic change has come about largely because' of the excellent performance of handicapped workers. Another reason is the "rapidly shifting emphasis toward jobs which require intellectual ability rather than physical stamina. ' A third reason is the educational work carried on by the President's Committee for the Employment of the Physically Handicapped, a voluntary citizens' organization headed by Maj. Gen. Melvin J. Maas, a retired Marine Corps veteran. It has been proved that handicapped. workers are as productive as employees. They on the job as 'steadily, and their accident rate is about the same. The types of jobs that handicapped workers perform efficiently cover the entire range of occupations. The chief programmer for a computer that calculates the New York State Thruway's toll records is blind. So is a Washington, D.C., disc jockey, able-bodi- ed re-.m- ain who also effectively works with a Seeing Eye dog. whose limbs In Tacoma, Wash., an are paralyzed from a wartime injury is the ex-Mar- ine manager for a firm with 750 workers. With a special telephone that operates at the flick of a finger and a secretary taking his dictation, he successfully handles a complex job. Women also have overcome many handicaps. A Milwaukee girl, a victim of polio, is a secretary. A young Buffalo, N.Y., woman who lost fashion illustrator. both legs is a department-stor- e An Illinois girl, paralyzed, from her waist down, is a receptionist in a photographic studio. employee-relatio- 19-year-- ns old - new development which has the door wider for, handicapped workers is the founding of many new businesses operated for, by, or with handicapped workers. Most are competing successfully for contracts in the open market" Abilities, Inc., is a Hempstead, N.Y., firm in which every worker from the boss down is handicapped. Started eight years ago with four employees, it now draws workers from hospitals, Institutions, and relief rolls. As a subcontractor to dozens of large corporations, it does over $1 million in business annually. Many other new businesses have been created by physically handicapped workers. In Los Angeare les, all the employees of a firm called. Epi-Hrehabilitated epileptics. For two years it has won the highest Community Chest awards.- - . In New York a unique organization called Just encouraging An helped to open . ab Family COVER: ''V - Danny the Dragon is a fine foil for, the latest in young fashions. In fact, so is all' of fireedomland .U.S.A., where Howard Graff shot our clothesconscious kids for "Back to School in High Style " page 14. LEONARD S. DAVIDOW WALTER DREYFUS. PATRICK E. OltOURKE C Prendent and Publisher Vice President Advertising Director Send all advertising communications to Family Weekly, 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, III. Address all communications about editorial features to Family Weekly, 60 E. 56th St New York 22, N. Y. I960, FAMILY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, -- One Break (JOB) .is a placement agency for the handicapped which offers specialized services to prospective employers. Severity-fiv- e percent of the 125 employees of Ace Electronics Association in Somerville, Mass., are handicapped. They work on precision units for General Dynamics, Bendix, and others. Small business is likewise employing more handicapped workers. For example, an Akron, Ohio, man who was blinded in Korea in 1950 is now a skilled garage mechanic and can assemble the 758 parts of an automatic transmission in the total darkness of the blind. I strongly believe that America's physically handicapped workers are setting an example for the rest of the nation's labor force today. In their efforts to acquire education, training, arid skills, I see a 4ype; of action which is desperately needed among many of our other working people especially our young, old, and minority workers. Our Department of Labor manpower studies for the 1960s point to a shortage of workers between 25 and 44. They also show that educational and skill levels are rising across the board, and that the need for. unskilled workers is rapidly declining. To meet these new manpower requirements, we will have to look to other sources than those so long favored by some employers. No group of workers is better preparing themselves than our physically handicapped. They , are now pulling their own weight in U.S. industry. But millions of' other disabled workers could do a lot more if given the opportunity. September 4, 1960 Board of Editors 1 ERNEST V. HEYN Editor-in-Chi-ef IEN KARTMAN Executive Editor ROBERT FITZGIBBON Managing Editor MARGARET BELL Feature Editor PHILLIP DYKSTRA Art Director MELANIE DE PROFT Food Editor 'John Hochmann, Jerry Klein", Harold London, Jack Ryan; Peer Oppenheimer, Hollywood. INC, 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago I, III. All rights reserved. Bob Driscoll, Irma Heldman, |