Wonderful Covers from Rehabilitation in Australia

Mr. George Hudson was a fitter without welding experience when he lost an arm in a motor accident. Training in welding was arranged by the Railways Department and the rehabilitee returned to a higher graded position with Trade Union cooperation.

Rehabilitation in Australia was the newsletter of the Australian Council for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, an umbrella organisation which coordinated the activities of a range of voluntary service groups across the nation. Although the organisation had been circulating an informal newsletter and a series of “Sheltered Workshop Handbook” since the early 1950s, it was not until 1963 that they formalised this arrangement through the publication of a quarterly journal.

Rehabilitation in Australia published a grab-bag of articles which offered advice on how to “help” people slotted into a variety of categories of disability: from the elderly deaf to blind children; from quadraplegic housewives to limbless tradespeople; from subnormal children to psychopathic criminals and sex perverts. Between the columns of practical advice were large numbers of anecdotes relating “success stories,” lists of upcoming events, product and technology updates, and conference and lecture reports.

One of the highlights of the journal (at least until the format was changed in the early 1970s) was its evocative cover images, invariably coupled with a revealing commentary on the inside sleeve. Here is just a selection. Some of the things to note: the way that individuals slip in and out a range of categories comprising different social and cultural capital; the intersection of race, gender, ability, and so on; and the amazing ability of children to resist photographic convention and stymie the photographers best attempts to have them appear cooperative.

A pupil in the pre-school unit at Ashford House School for Cerebral Palsied Children conducted by the Crippled Children’s Association of South Australia Inc.

A comfortable work centre for baby’s crib, dressing table and bath tub.

This is one of a series of fourteen pictures on child care for handicapped mothers, suitably mounted, made available to ACRD, through the courtesy of Dr. Elizabeth Eckhardt May, from the School of Home Economics, University of Connecticut, U.S.A.

Deaf children in class at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, “Delgany,” Portsea, Victoria. Deaf children, Annette Fogarty and Francis Hynes, enjoy “singing” nursery rhymes because they use the latest electronic equipment, A Siemens group hearing aid. The individual microphone enables each child to hear and monitor his own voice.

Denise and Bernadette have been multiply handicapped since birth, Thalidomide being the suspected cause of their disability. Both girls are being trained and educated by the Crippled Children’s Association of South Australia.

The Hon. and Mrs. R . E. Porter, Lord and Lady Mayoress of Adelaide, show a continuing interest in services to the handicapped. Pictured here are Sarah McGregor and Gregory Walls, patients of the Crippled Children’s Association of S.A. Inc., in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour.

Mr. Ron King of Peakhurst, N.S.W., a respiratory quadriplegic, works from his bed at home as a consultant electrical engineer on heavy industrial projects.

At the East Arm Hospital, Darwin, training in simple medical and nursing procedures is given to aborigines who work with leprosy patients in the hospital and with aborigines who have been discharged from the hospital. They are given the title of “paramedical students” and fill a very valuable role under the directionof Dr. John Hargrave and the very small professional staff at the hospital.

Mr. A. Bickle a resident of the Paraplegic and. Quadriplegic Unit at Shenton Park, W.A. Mr. Bickle has been a paraplegic since 1956. He came from Derby, 1500 miles from Perth, where he was a stockman on a cattle station. He has developed his talent for painting and is one of the handicapped people. able to supply attractive paintings for the series of Christmas cards produced for sale by the Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Association of W.A.

Linda Mouborak, aged 9, a Lebanese migrant, is attending the O.F. class conducted by the N.S.W. Department of Education at the Crowle Home Branch of the Subnormal Children’s Welfare Association.

Mr. Neville Anderson, a former surveyor, who was injured in an accident and rendered quadriplegic has been associated with the “House. With No Steps” at Belro.se for some years. At present he is Marketing Manager of the telephone selling unit, Phoneability Enterprises, and controls a staff who are all quadriplegic. Interested in community service, Mr. Anderson, was recently elected President of the St. lves Apex Club.