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44. Ford and the Disabled
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44 Ford and the Disabled As early as 1911, when John R. Lee joined the Ford Motor Company as manager of personnel, Henry Ford began paying particular attention to the assimilation of disabled people into the workforce. It is said that at that time, no man applying for work at the Ford factory was rejected because of his physical condition. He was examined after he was hired, not before. At that early period, there were on file 957 disabled men at work. Of these, 10 were totally blind, 207 were blind in one eye, 37 were deaf and dumb, and 234 had only one foot or leg. Appropriate work was found for them at regular wages. In 1919, following the casualties of World War I, it was reported that Ford Motor Company had 670 operations in Ford plants performed by legless men and 2,637 performed by one-legged men. Two of these operations were adapted to armless men, 715 to one-armed men, and 10 to those who were blind. By October 1925, Henry and Clara Ford had given $10,000 to the American Foundation for the Blind. The following letter was written on March 15, 1929, by Helen Keller of Forest Hills, New York: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Ford: I wonder if you realize what your friendship means to the blind. As an example of its great influence for good, may I ask you to read the folder that accompanies this letter? In it, you will read of despair turned into hope, and defeat into victory for sightless men and women who long for usefulness, but do not know how, or in what direction, to take their first steps. I wish there were new and beautiful words to thank you for the impetus you are giving the Foundation which is near to my heart. With happy faith in your continued interest and friendship towards the sightless, I am, Sincerely yours, Helen Keller 326 Previously published in The Ford Legend, Spring 1998. In a February 1929 letter referring to the efficiency of blind men working at Ford Motor Company, Ford’s secretary H. M. Cordell named specific jobs in motor assembly, the gasket department, and the valve bushing department, which resulted in efficiencies of from 75 to 100 percent compared with men who had their sight. By the time of World War II, great advances had been made in the art of fitting the disabled man to industrial work. It was proved that disabled workers, in appropriate jobs, had equal or better production rates and fewer accidents than average workers in full possession of their physical faculties. Dr. Frederick Searle, superintendent of the Ford Industrial Schools, stated in July 1943: Daily more than 1200 persons, blind or with seriously impaired vision, enter the Rouge Plant, work their shift and go to their homes as do normal men having earned an equal amount in wages. One hundred fifty three deaf mutes; fifteen men in wheel chairs with both 327 Helen Keller, counselor on international relations of the American Foundation for the Blind. Keller was born at Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, and was both deaf and blind at age nineteen months. She authored The Story of My Life in 1902, “Optimism” (an essay) in 1903, The World I Live In in 1908, and The Song of the Stone Wall in 1910. She died on June 1, 1968. (Photograph courtesy of Helen Keller International.) [54.89.70.161] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:23 GMT) legs amputated; one with both hands gone; and one hundred thirty seven minus a hand or a whole arm work regularly and as efficiently as men who are favored physically. These men ask no odds and are given none when work suited to their abilities is found. In June 1944, the American Foundation for the Blind in New York City awarded the Migel Medal to Henry Ford. The presentation was 328 Henry and the Disabled Sylvester Ripkowski and his leader dog, Blackie, leaving their home in Detroit for work at the Rouge plant in October 1942.The dog will lead him to a nearby bus stop, where a Ford-built bus will pick them up. Ripkowski may or may not know that his house needs a coat of paint; his wife undoubtedly does. (P.833.77082-6) scheduled for June 15 in New York. Ford then was over eighty years old and not well enough to travel. So Henry Ford II offered to accept...