The Social Security Act and the Blind

Abstract

Special legislation providing relief to the needy in the form of direct financial assistance from public funds has about seventy years of history in the United States. The first provision of this type is found in a resolution passed in i866 by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Councilmen of New York City, establishing a definite procedure for dealing with applications from persons for donations from city funds. From this early resolution developed the provision in the New York City Charter under which special relief to the is still administered. The first effort at state legislation for relief for the was in Ohio, where in i898 a law was enacted for this purpose, the administration being placed in the hands of the township trustees. This law was later declared unconstitutional, and a new act which replaced it in I904 was likewise ruled out by the State Supreme Court. Finally in I908 a law was enacted by the legislature which triumphantly passed the test of constitutionality and established the principle of relief for the from public funds. In the meantime the legislature of Illinois had, in I903, enacted a so-called blind pension law, and the precedent of relief having thus become firmly established, other states followed, one by one, until, by January, I935, 26 states and the City of New York had made special financial provision from public monies for their needy people. The theory on which relief legislation is based is that blindness itself is a sufficiently well-defined cause of poverty to require special consideration at the hands of the state. The people themselves have been especially active in initiating and promoting such legislation since they feel that a special allowance, made in consideration of their handicap, is free from the stigma commonly attached to poor relief, and moreover that, by the setting up of special administrative provisions, they * B.A., I906, University of Washington; M.A., 1907, Harvard University. Director, Bureau of Research, I923-1929, and Executive Director since 1929, American Foundation for the Blind, New York. Supervisor of classes for the and sight-saving classes in various cities of Ohio, 1915-1923. Co-author, Blind Relief Laws and Their Administration in the United States (1919), Blind Relief Laws, Their Theory and Practice (I929); author of various pamphlets and articles on work for the blind. t B.A., I919, University of British Columbia; graduate study, Bryn Mawr College and University of California. Research Agent, American Foundation for the Blind, since I926; Associate Editor, Outlook for the Blind, since I93I. Engaged in industrial management work for two years; work in public health statistics for two years. Co-author, Blind Relief Laws, Their Theory and Practice (I929); author of various articles on work for the blind.