VI. EMPLOYMENT 



Employment is the key to economic independence and in- 

 cidentally to happiness. The traditional idea that sick or dis- 

 abled people must be kept in idleness is nowadays exploded; 

 for it has been agreed that the psychic mental attitude of the 

 sick has a decided effect on their physical condition. Idle- 

 ness leads to introspection and boredom, whereas a certain 

 amount of occupation proportionate to the individual condi- 

 tion has proved a real blessing to the convalescent and in- 

 valid. The very recent experiment of occupational therapy 

 introduced in the United States base hospitals has carried 

 out this theory and has proved gratifyingly successful. 



It has been only of late years that the cripple played any 

 part in the field of industry. His disability automatically 

 excluded him, and his natural sensitiveness instinctively for- 

 bade his boldly pushing forward and claiming just recogni- 

 tion. Enforced idleness naturally augmented the cripple's 

 sensitive retirement and morbidity, and he was obliged to real- 

 ize that in many cases he was a burden in a wage-earning 

 family. The only occupation sometimes practiced by the 

 cripple was begging or peddling, and this source of livelihood 

 is a menace to any community. There is no reason whatever 

 why a cripple not too extensively handicapped should not learn 

 a trade and get a job. The range of choice of occupation is 

 naturally more limited, depending on the nature of the indi- 

 vidual disability. ''A cripple is only debarred by his disabil- 

 ity from performing certain operations. In the operations 

 which he can perform, the disabled man will be just as effi- 

 cient as his non-handicapped colleague, or more so."^ Voca- 

 tional training is an essential prerequisite for the cripple en- 

 tering the industrial field, inasmuch as his limited physical 

 versatility narrows the number of occupations in v/hich he 

 can seek work, and therefore he must needs become an adept 

 in specialization in order to hold his own in the competition 

 field. It is a vital social work to encourage cripples while 

 still children to become interested in some line of work which 

 will lead to a future incentive toward employment. The 

 greatest tact is necessary to persuade a growing crippled 

 child that he or she can become an asset in the community 



^American Journal of Care of Cripples, Vol. VI, No. 1, p. 146. 



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