ENG-1963 — Page 248

11

Social Welfare

CONSIDERABLE effort has been devoted in recent years to extending social welfare services beyond the relief of distress and the provi- sion of material assistance; increasingly these services are directed towards assisting those who are not capable, without help and support, of standing on their own feet to become independent members of the community. Measures towards this end have made progress during the past year, notably in the field of services for the handicapped.

Rehabilitation of Handicapped Persons. Ten years ago, services for the rehabilitation of the handicapped in Hong Kong were on a very limited scale. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have brought about changes in the Chinese family system and have emphasized the need to provide specialized services for disabled persons who are at the greatest disadvantage in a competitive society, and for practical training for those who can be fitted for employment. These services are usually beyond the financial and other resources of the Chinese family and require to be provided through public or voluntary organizations. Their planning therefore depend to a large extent on a proper assessment of the extent and nature of the handicap.

By the end of the year the number of handicapped persons who had come forward for registration had increased from just over 9,000 at the end of 1962 to 11,031. Increasingly energetic efforts need to be directed towards restoring these larger numbers to social and economic usefulness. Services for the blind are the most advanced. In 1953 a sub-committee on welfare of the blind appointed by the Social Welfare Advisory Committee studied the needs of 400 known blind persons and made recommendations for the development of work for the blind. The most important of these was that a Society for the Blind be set up, as a voluntary organization-devoted mainly to the prevention of blindness and the training and employment of the blind and that the Social