[NFBNJ] CBVIStrong2020: Commission's First Executive Director, Lydia Young Hayes - In Her Own Words

Wed Sep 2 21:04:15 UTC 2020

Greetings to all!
The following message from Pamela Gaston is worth reading, sharing and 
saving for future reference.
To our members, she was a Federationist before we organized as the National 
Federation of the Blind.
I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Warmly,

We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
Raising Expectations To Live The Life You Want!

Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking
www.carshelpingtheblind.org
or call 855 659 9314

From: Pamela Gaston
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2020 3:01 PM
Subject: #CBVIStrong2020: Commission's First Executive Director, Lydia Young 
Hayes - In Her Own Words

Excerpt:  ï¿½Best of Our Best ï¿½ Women of Valor in American History ï¿½

By Arlene Ferman

Lydia Young Hayes ï¿½ ï¿½Woman of Visionï¿½

Perhaps it was the smell of flowers. Perhaps the fresh summer breeze blowing 
across the meadow reminded me of the fateful day so many years ago. I 
remember how blue the sky was. The great field I was crossing was a waving 
carpet of green and yellow grasses dotted by fists of color from all the 
wildflowers. If only I hadnï¿½t stopped to pick some of those flowers. If only 
Iï¿½d taken my regular route home instead of a shortcut to our farmhouse. 
Perhaps today I would be sighted instead of completely blind.

Can I ever forget the terrible sound of the bull rushing towards me? The 
memory of that enormous animal mowing me down and knocking me out will never 
leave me. I hate what that bull did to me, robbing me of my sight. Yet, 
because of that terrible accident, I was able to help many blind people in 
this country.

I was born Lydia Young Hayes on September 11, 1871. It is now 1942 and I am 
back in Minnesota where I was born, on my n nephewï¿½s farm in Bemidji.

As I sit here on the porch, all the smells of late summer flood my mind with 
memories. I am so proud of what I was able to do. If my parentsï¿½ had not 
sent me to my uncleï¿½s home in Massachusetts I never would have been educated 
at the Perkins Institute. This school was also known as the Massachusetts 
School for the Blind. I stayed there until I graduated from high school. My 
parents were wise to send me. They wanted to be sure that I would grow and 
learn and do!

I did well. I continued my studies at the Boston Normal School, a school to 
train teachers of young children. I was given the opportunity to manage a 
private nursery for sighted children. Although I enjoyed working with 
children, I knew I had to do something with my education to help other blind 
people. I volunteered to be a home teacher and then to do private tutoring. 
This last job took me to Ohio. Finally when Massachusetts allowed blind 
people to be taught at home, I was asked to return there and implement this 
program with another teacher. That was in 1900. I stayed there for 8 years.

In 1909, at the age of 37, I was selected to organize the New Jersey 
Commission for the Blind. After only one year, Gov. Woodrow Wilson appointed 
me, Lydia Hayes to be the Commissionï¿½s first Chief Executive Officer. I was 
stunned! To appoint a woman to any executive position was unusual, but to 
appoint a blind woman was incredible. My heart burst with pride.

I knew I had tremendous work to do. I established the Commissionï¿½s first 
headquarters in downtown Newark, NJ. We were so lucky! A friend provided us 
with a 10 room house at 14 James  St. This wonderful friend accepted no rent 
at all. We were  able to provide social rooms, classrooms, workshops and 
offices. The caretakers were a blind couple. This gave blind people a place 
to go for help if and when they needed it.

The NJ Commission for the Blind also served blind people in another way. A 
registry of every blind person living in NJ was formed. After one year, 
there were 750 people registered.

Although we were able to do many things, the work became harder and harder. 
We knew we had to make sure the rights of the blind were protected. All 
policies and practices had to insure those rights within the state. After 
all, people without sight could work, got to school and serve others as 
others served them. One is not helpless if one is blind!

It had always disturbed me that many sighted people felt the blind should be 
in their own special schools. Why? I could not understand why a blind child 
should not function in a regular school. So I fought and fought hard so that 
these children could receive an education in a normal public school! We won! 
NJ allowed public schools to conduct classes using Braille. The state even 
gave financial help for these classes.  It was also important that the 
prevention of blindness be stressed.

In 1910, another teacher and I set up such a class in the Newark public 
schools. I am proud to say that these classes were used as models for other 
school systems all across the country.

I knew this would do wonders for blind people and sighted people alike. 
After all, each individual must learn about his or her responsibility to the 
community. And of course, the community must recognize and promote the 
capabilities of every individual.

Five years later, in 1915, industrial jobs were opened to the blind. This 
was a great opportunity for regular blind people to enter the regular 
working world. People would be able to see just how capable blind people 
were. The Commission began a Home Teaching service program to teach Braille, 
typing and how to produce handicrafts that could be sold. We even 
implemented a Home Industries Program to market anything made by blind 
people.

Now here is my birthday once again. I am 70 years old. As I sit on the porch 
of my nephewï¿½s farmhouse with all those memories, I canï¿½t help thinking 
about my terrible accident with the bull.  Yet, I am so proud that I was 
able to accomplish so much even though I was blind.

(Note: Lydia Young Hayes passed away shortly after this was written on 
February 8, 1943. She was laid to rest at The Trinity Free Lutheran Cemetery 
at Pony Lake in Liberty Township, Minnesota)

Attached:

1911 - Lydia Hayes Testimony before the NJ State Legislature

Images Attached:

Lydia Hayes Graduation from Kindergarten Normal School of Boston University. 
She's wearing a white dress and is holding her rolled up diploma in both 
hands.

Lydia Hayes CBVI Board Room Headshot Portrait

Training room at 14 James Street (1910) - women weaving rugs and baskets

Man making a broom at James Street (1910)

1910 Article announcing Lydia Hayes appointment to lead the Commission

1931 News article about Lydia Hayes leading agency providing services to 
state's 2800 blind residents. Includes photo of Lydia hayes working at her 
desk and Mary Curcio, a transcriptionist employed by the Commission. (Newark 
resident Mary Curcio was one of the state's first blind public high school 
and Rutgers Douglass College graduates)

May 2, 1935 article on the agency's 25th anniversary dinner arranged by the 
Commission's 27 employees in Lydia Hayes honor

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