| Description | Track 1: recording setup 0.04 mins
Interview with Christopher Scott, caneworker in a sheltered workshop in Edinburgh. He discusses the heavy work that he does in a cane workshop, the bonus scheme in operation, and his belief that sighted people do not realise the kind of work that many blind people are doing. He feels that he has to compete with sighted workers to work fast enough to get bonus payments, but feels that he has little other choice of employment. He talks about his family life, his and his wife's visual impairments, the jobs that his children do, and the forty years he has spent working with cane and willow. He goes on to talk about his retirement, his belief that more sighted people should tour the workshop to see how hard the work is, his mobility, and not being able to read braille. He thinks that his hands are so hard through working with cane that he would not be able to feel the braille symbols, and talks about never receiving any tuition at school apart from learning basketwork. He talks about having talking books and the radio, but feels that if it weren't for that he would be isolated from the outside world. He thinks that blind people should be given the opportunity to do lighter work, with sighted assistants to help, and talks about the ability of many blind people to learn new skills quickly through touch (tracks 2-6)
Track 6: end of interview with Christopher Scott and sound effects of people doing canework 4.09 mins
Track 7: sound effects of canework being carried out at the workshop 1.53 mins
Track 8: Christopher Scott talks about his ambitions to work in engineering but not being given the opportunity to train, and how he feels about his canework job 1.57 mins
Interview with Alfred Williams, commercial manager at the Royal Blind Asylum, Edinburgh, workshops. He talks about his career in blind welfare, the problems of sheltered workshops and the establishment of Industrial Advisors to the Blind Limited, an organisation that investigates new possibilities for the employment of blind people which might enable them to move from the traditional trades into modern industry. He talks about the relative lack of light engineering firms in Edinburgh which would otherwise provide employment for blind people, describes the work done by blind people in some of the traditional trades, such as canework, and talks about the rates of pay for blind workers in different trades and the issue of subsidy of wages. He considers whether workers are demoralised by this situation, the limited opportunities for promotion and salary rises and explains the terms of the bonus scheme. He talks about the response from employers in the Edinburgh area who are able to offer placements to blind workers (tracks 9-12).
Total: 34.47 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0730880 |