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Government to establish institute of hearing research
UN to discuss aid for handicapped
transition from hospital bed to active rehabilitation.
for a survey of the incidence of hearing impairment.
The need for an international standard on facilities to eliminate architectural and transport barriers to physically handicapped persons will be considered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the light of the information presented at a conference held at United Nations headquarters in New York last June. The conference, on overcoming problems faced by the physically handicapped because of architectural and transport barriers, was sponsored by the UN's Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs.
Courses average seven to nine weeks in length, depending on a person's need, and progress is checked each week at the case conference. Experience has shown that the maintenance of a busy workshop atmosphere in the unit is essential to the success of industrial rehabilitation. The emphasis is on the creation of an authentic industrial environment so that an assessment can be made of the type of work for which each person is best suited.
" I n determining research priorities, I shall in future aim to ensure that we give greater attention to encouraging research into the c o m m o n disabilities, like hearing impairment, which affect so many people. In such a complex area one cannot slavishly follow the rule of thumb of putting common things first - but common things should have a very high priority."
At ISO's request, the American National Standards Institute appointed a delegation to represent it. Representatives of the three cosecretariats of American National Standards Committee A 117, Facilities in Public Buildings for Persons with Physical Handicaps, and of two other member organizations of the committee attended.
The Government has decided to establish an institute for hearing impairment and to find ways of preventing, curing or mitigating it. Announcing the decision in a speech to a conference of the Samaritans in Manchester on 5 September, Mrs Barbara Castle, Secretary of State for Social Services, said:
Effective legislation in this area has been enacted by only a few fully developed nations, the conference showed, and American National Standard Specifications for Making
Buildings and Facilities Accessible to, and Usable by, the Physically Handicapped, Al17.1-1961 (R1971), is virtually the only voluntary consensus standard. The developing countries, in which even wheelchairs are often lacking, have given little or no consideration to helping the handicapped, the conference showed. Even in the developed countries, inexpertly written legislation has sometime~ actually aggravated the plight of the handicapped.
New rehabilitation concept A new industrial rehabilitation unit at Birmingham, sited in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital centre, is to be directly linked with the hospital's own services to provide a comprehensive and continuous rehabilitation service for hospital patients. The unit will have a total of 150 places of which 30 will be part time. Patients from the hospital will be able to participate in the part time courses whilst continuing their medical treatment. The courses are designed to help disabled people to become accustomed to industrial discipline and build up the confidence necessary to resettle them in employment. Close liaison between the medical and rehabilitation services is essential to ensure a smooth
Government to establish institute
of Hearing Research
"One of the greatest causes of social isolation today is deafness. Society has barely begun to grasp the difficulties and handicaps of those whose hearing is impaired. We too often dismiss as stupid the child who cannot hear properly what is going on in class. We get impatient with anyone who tries to join in a conversation he cannot follow properly. We have never given the deaf the recognition or sympathy we give to those who are more visibly handici~pped. That is one of the reasons why we know so little about what causes deafness or impairs hearing, how it can be prevented, cured or mitigated. Yet this tragic disability affects up to 13A million people: that is, 3%% of the total population. Well over half of those over 65 years of age are afflicted by impairment of hearing. "This situation calls for a much more intensive effort of research. The government have therefore decided to establish an institute of hearing research. We will consider the form the institute should take when we receive the recommendations - I hope by the end of this year - from two working parties which have been set up by the Medical Research Council. I will then, in consultation with the Council, make th~ necessary decisions about research priorities to enable funds to be available for increased work in the field of deafness. I will also consider what organisational structure would best promote the development of research carried out at existing centres and elsewhere, and whether there is a need
Child safety in agriculture By early September, 18 children under the age of 16 years had been killed this year in England and Wales as a result of accidents on farms. This represented more than one-third of all farm fatalities. The peak period for accidents to children is during the potato harvest, and this had not then started. Evidence indicates that most of these accidents could be prevented, and in an effort to make people more aware of the potential dangers to children on farms the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food organised a special campaign for Child Safety in Agriculture during the European Economic Community Farm Safety Week from 15 to 22 September. This campaign had the full support of aU organisations concerned with agriculture, and other rural activities. As a separate event, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is co-ordinating a National Farm Safety Year which will run from the Child Safety Week until the Royal Smithfield Show, in I975.
Pit safety campaign While the number of fatal accidents and serious injuries in mining had fallen steadily over the last ten years to one-third of the 1964 figures there was no room for complacency about the state of safety, said Sir Derek Ezra, National Coal Board Chairman, launching a new pit safety campaign. This year there had been 20 deaths between March and mid-September, compared with 40 in the same period last year which, however, had included 23 deaths resulting from the two major accidents at Markham and Seafield collieries. The fall in numbers of accidents in the decade was due in part to the gradual reduction in manpower. Real progress was measured by the reduction in the ratio of accidents to shifts worked. In 1964 the rate of fatal accidents was 0" 17 per 100 000 manshifts compared with 0" 12 last year, and the serious accident rate decline from 1.17 to 0-96. The
Applied Ergonomics December 1974
251
transition from hospital bed to active rehabilitation.
for a survey of the incidence of hearing impairment.
The need for an international standard on facilities to eliminate architectural and transport barriers to physically handicapped persons will be considered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the light of the information presented at a conference held at United Nations headquarters in New York last June. The conference, on overcoming problems faced by the physically handicapped because of architectural and transport barriers, was sponsored by the UN's Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs.
Courses average seven to nine weeks in length, depending on a person's need, and progress is checked each week at the case conference. Experience has shown that the maintenance of a busy workshop atmosphere in the unit is essential to the success of industrial rehabilitation. The emphasis is on the creation of an authentic industrial environment so that an assessment can be made of the type of work for which each person is best suited.
" I n determining research priorities, I shall in future aim to ensure that we give greater attention to encouraging research into the c o m m o n disabilities, like hearing impairment, which affect so many people. In such a complex area one cannot slavishly follow the rule of thumb of putting common things first - but common things should have a very high priority."
At ISO's request, the American National Standards Institute appointed a delegation to represent it. Representatives of the three cosecretariats of American National Standards Committee A 117, Facilities in Public Buildings for Persons with Physical Handicaps, and of two other member organizations of the committee attended.
The Government has decided to establish an institute for hearing impairment and to find ways of preventing, curing or mitigating it. Announcing the decision in a speech to a conference of the Samaritans in Manchester on 5 September, Mrs Barbara Castle, Secretary of State for Social Services, said:
Effective legislation in this area has been enacted by only a few fully developed nations, the conference showed, and American National Standard Specifications for Making
Buildings and Facilities Accessible to, and Usable by, the Physically Handicapped, Al17.1-1961 (R1971), is virtually the only voluntary consensus standard. The developing countries, in which even wheelchairs are often lacking, have given little or no consideration to helping the handicapped, the conference showed. Even in the developed countries, inexpertly written legislation has sometime~ actually aggravated the plight of the handicapped.
New rehabilitation concept A new industrial rehabilitation unit at Birmingham, sited in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital centre, is to be directly linked with the hospital's own services to provide a comprehensive and continuous rehabilitation service for hospital patients. The unit will have a total of 150 places of which 30 will be part time. Patients from the hospital will be able to participate in the part time courses whilst continuing their medical treatment. The courses are designed to help disabled people to become accustomed to industrial discipline and build up the confidence necessary to resettle them in employment. Close liaison between the medical and rehabilitation services is essential to ensure a smooth
Government to establish institute
of Hearing Research
"One of the greatest causes of social isolation today is deafness. Society has barely begun to grasp the difficulties and handicaps of those whose hearing is impaired. We too often dismiss as stupid the child who cannot hear properly what is going on in class. We get impatient with anyone who tries to join in a conversation he cannot follow properly. We have never given the deaf the recognition or sympathy we give to those who are more visibly handici~pped. That is one of the reasons why we know so little about what causes deafness or impairs hearing, how it can be prevented, cured or mitigated. Yet this tragic disability affects up to 13A million people: that is, 3%% of the total population. Well over half of those over 65 years of age are afflicted by impairment of hearing. "This situation calls for a much more intensive effort of research. The government have therefore decided to establish an institute of hearing research. We will consider the form the institute should take when we receive the recommendations - I hope by the end of this year - from two working parties which have been set up by the Medical Research Council. I will then, in consultation with the Council, make th~ necessary decisions about research priorities to enable funds to be available for increased work in the field of deafness. I will also consider what organisational structure would best promote the development of research carried out at existing centres and elsewhere, and whether there is a need
Child safety in agriculture By early September, 18 children under the age of 16 years had been killed this year in England and Wales as a result of accidents on farms. This represented more than one-third of all farm fatalities. The peak period for accidents to children is during the potato harvest, and this had not then started. Evidence indicates that most of these accidents could be prevented, and in an effort to make people more aware of the potential dangers to children on farms the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food organised a special campaign for Child Safety in Agriculture during the European Economic Community Farm Safety Week from 15 to 22 September. This campaign had the full support of aU organisations concerned with agriculture, and other rural activities. As a separate event, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is co-ordinating a National Farm Safety Year which will run from the Child Safety Week until the Royal Smithfield Show, in I975.
Pit safety campaign While the number of fatal accidents and serious injuries in mining had fallen steadily over the last ten years to one-third of the 1964 figures there was no room for complacency about the state of safety, said Sir Derek Ezra, National Coal Board Chairman, launching a new pit safety campaign. This year there had been 20 deaths between March and mid-September, compared with 40 in the same period last year which, however, had included 23 deaths resulting from the two major accidents at Markham and Seafield collieries. The fall in numbers of accidents in the decade was due in part to the gradual reduction in manpower. Real progress was measured by the reduction in the ratio of accidents to shifts worked. In 1964 the rate of fatal accidents was 0" 17 per 100 000 manshifts compared with 0" 12 last year, and the serious accident rate decline from 1.17 to 0-96. The
Applied Ergonomics December 1974
251