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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1961)
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. Sinders Retires as (Editor'i note The follow ''- Ing article wai written by ,H John W. Sinderi ha re- tired at chairman, of the Jackson County Committee .' for lha Employment of the ? Physically Handicapped. , ' By . JOHN . W. SINDERS '' My ' sincere thanks to the people of Jackson county for , allowing me the privilege of serving on your handicapped committee for. the': past 4V4 'years and representing you as chairman of the Jackson County- Committee for the . Employment of the Physical ly Handicapped. . , I felt that being a member and a part of such a worth- While committee was indeed an . honor and a . pleasure, i The knowledge and experi ence I gained is immeasurable . and will prove invaluable if I have the ' opportunity to ; work with such. a. committee in the, futm'sv v -: ' The employers here in. the .'valley, I am proud to report, '.. " are talking; giant steps, for ward with our handicapped program. Recent reports from the. local; state employment office 'reveal that during the past year or two the number of occasions for referral of ' applicants with physical . handicaps has risen consider . ably with a like increase in the numbers employed. t Result of Own Effort ) i We may all selfishy' look ,--: upon this as the results of our ; own efforts and we are par : tially right, but remember in combining all individual ef r forts we have a group effort, ' a team effort, a community ef r fort, which in reality resulted in more calls and more cm--j ployment of the handicapped. ' - We have only learned to crawl; now we must stand up and walk. Let's take those i giant steps so necessary with the handicapped placement program by - taking positive action to assure placement of , the physically, handicapped i person . on his productive j skills and abilities. ; , ..As- the community of em i ployers, we can rightfully be ' proud -of the results 1 being .'accomplished. I am not say ing that an employer should .-hire every, handicapped per son who applies.. ;, . v, ... -( Many Applicants . 'i (i Being; a personnel; officer :' myself and responsible for re cruitment, I know there are imany impaired applicants : who may come in looking for work who are not suitable for the existing vacancy. This is also true : of unimpaired ap plicants. ..-,., r t. . . But by placing those with . ! skills and abilities, ' we have - greatly reduced the number of unemployed in the physi cally handicapped area. What we have left are those who ' may be considered unemploy . able at this time. This group remaining may prove, and in reality will be the most .dim- ' cult of the lot. Here we will , need help. .: ; There will have to be social : . evaluations, ' and the state ; vocational rehabilitation serv ice will be most helpful here 1 With such assistance many of V these remaining handicapped can 1 be : rehabilitated and , placed in lobs. Should we not ' take the steps to increase the employ- ment for the physically handi- .. capped we may find ourselves facing a picture which we ; will certainly hate to view i , It has been estimated that : there are 30 million handi- ' capped men and women in ? our population. Some 10 mll .. lion are : severely h a n 1- capped; half hold jobs and the Other' half do not. ; ' On the " veterans adminis- ; t r a t i o n compensation and ' pension rolls are nearly ; 3 ' million veterans, more than half of whom are severely i handicapped. Many of them hold jobs; many do not. t ' The office of vocational re ' habilitation ' has said ' that -some 250 thousand men and women who need vocational 1 rehabilitation in order to overcome their handicaps; yet OVRS ever rising program can serve . but one-third of ' them. There are some 2 million Americans who could' be pre- pared for jobs if only they had ' ' access to vocational rehabilitation. One-third of a . million handicapped persons apply each year for jobs at public employment offices. Many are placed, yet many ; are not. -." These are not numbers, statistics, they are individual ' human beings. Do they not have the right" to hope, the - right to achieve their own in dividual destinies, the same as all other men and women in the world? Is our job ever done so long as joblessness 'clouds the hope in the breast of one handicapped person? This is the picture of which : I speak. You are businessmen, 'with ' the bu ild-up of ' nonrehabilitated employable handicapped persons you can ' see what the cost to the tax- payers could be for employ- ment compensation, relief ; payment, and other items. ' The question is what are , we going to do? We are at the t forks of the road. We may go Tigh and foltowin good prin pate in the employment of the physically handicapped. We may take the left turn and leave them by the wayside to wither and die on our econo mic vine. , . - - I have - heard employers and employing representa tives say "in my business we just simply can not utilize handicapped employees," and give many reasons for such a statement. - ' " How do they know? Should one of you fall in this cate gory, how do you know? Have you tried? Try a handicapped person m your next- vacancy.- uive him or her the opportunity to prove his ability and -capabilities.' . Continue your support of1 the , handicapped by calling your local- state employment agency today., The employ ment of the physically handi capped is good business. Committee Chairman; Writer - f i' lf i A F 1 !' JOHN SINDERS Transferred to Chicago . By JIM GILL AM Mail Tribune Correspondent ' From the comparatively quiet solitude of the Rogue River valley to the dynamics with piles of steel and con crete, elevated, and subway rails, freeways and a spider's net of railroads; from .. the beauty of the salmon and steelhead and trout pools of the famous Rogue river to the shores of teeming Lake Michigan, is a long step even for those unafraid of the 1960's and the new Frontiers. John Sinders, personnel of ficer at the Veterans Admin istration domiciliary, White City, is being transferred to the VA's Hines hospital in Chicago, 'according to Man ager Henry C. Herzog. The story of John and Mary Sinders is good for. our times and moods, and' its results have been goo4 for innumera ble people who have become the special objects of the Pres idents of the United States and . the Committee for the Employment of the Physically Handicapped. ; Sinders was awarded the President's citation first' in the region ;- for meritorious service. in the. field of. the handicapped. The Jackson county committee, of which he is -a former chairman, awarded him other citations. He is an authority through self-experience. J A Texas Marine, he and some 8,000 others were on Corregidor in the Philippines when . the invading . Japanese hit. On May 7, 1942, Sinders was one of those captured. - Amoebic dysentery attack ed him almost, immediately, and within less than 30 days his weight dropped from a husky 198 to 113 pounds. Within a short time later he noticed that he had trouble seeing the fences at Cabana- tuan prison camp. Next, he could not make out the build ings,, and after four months could not read the only two books he still had-the Bible and a Spanish textbook which he had been studying during his Philippine duty. ' i His captors believed in the principle of no work, no eat. Since seeing meant working and working meant eating, his chances for survival were not in his favor. He learned to find his way as a member of a gardening detail through his - senses of , hearing and touch, v ... However, the last year of his imprisonment was In Northern Japan where he hauled logs and worked in a copper mine. - ; i The end of the war- saved him from the impending doom of knowing he could not sur vive another winter. It was ' . SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1961 J Gives Profile in Courage a three-mile hike from camp to the mine and there the moist air was merciless. On Sept. 14, 1945, after 3Vi years, he was started to ward stateside. At Oak Knoll Naval hospital, Oakland, Calif., . he learned that the dysentary and malnutrition had killed the optical nerves in his eyes. He had less than five-two hundredths vision -and that portion came from the peripheral nerves. Treat ment started and with it the adjustment necessary to make a living-somehow. He was taught Braille and given a whitened cane. And then he met Mary, a Wave at nearby Camp Shoe-maker-a jumping off station for Pacific sea going sailors. They were married in less than a month. , . I Sinders was sent to Phila-1 delphla and then to the Insti- tute ' for the Blind in New York City for testing and re habilitation. ; Discharged, he and Mary went back to Texas where both entered Clifton Junior college and later Bay lor university. Both eventu ally took law degrees through Mary's eyes principally. After examinations and ratings, he entered the Veterans admin istration service at Waco; then at VA hospitals in Salisbury and Durham, N.C. 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