[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Northampton County Borough.

Welfare {continued) National Assistance Act, 1948: Sections 29 and 30. Deaf or Dumb Persons. A scheme under Sections 29 and 30 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, for the provision of welfare services for the deaf or dumb was approved by the Minister of Health on 20th January, 1955. For the discharge of the Council’s functions under this scheme, the Northamptonshire and Rutland Mission to the Deaf carry out these duties on an agency basis for the Local Authority (See page 26). The persons to whom the scheme applies can be divided into two groups, viz:— (1) The deaf. This class (often described as the “ deaf and dumb ”) includes persons who were born deaf and also persons who lost their hearing so early in life that they have little or no recollec¬ tion of sound and have had tc be educated in the same way as those who were born deaf. Few succeed in acquiring the use of normal speech. The great majority use only a manual sign language or a combination of signs and restricted speech, in which the power of self-expression is limited and in any case varies considerably with the individual. Many are unable to read fluently and can do no more than gather the general substance of simple printed matter. (2) The hard of hearing. These have lost their hearing wholly or in part after acquiring ordinary speech and after being educated as hearing persons. Registration is voluntary. The numbers December, 1960, were as follows :— on the registers on 31st MALES FEMALES TOTALS Deaf ........ 26 26 52 Hard of hearing ....... 10 12 22 Totals.... 36 38 74 In a statement supplied by the Chaplain-Secretary of the Northants. and Rutland Mission to the Deaf the following activities are recorded as having been carried out by the Mission:— VISITING. As most of the deaf persons resident in the County Borough attended the Mission building regularly, some as often as three times a week, no regular visitation was done except for a special reason. Those unable to attend were visited on an average of once a month, and more frequently when necessary. Two deaf-blind persons at “ Darsdale ” Home for the Blind, Raunds, were visited once a week. A resident at the Home for the Deaf, Roper House, Canterbury, was visited twice during 1960.