More than 200 Jewish blind persons from Israel, the U.S., France, Great Britain and West Germany are attending the “First World Conference on the Problems of the Jewish Blind” here in Jerusalem’s Hilton Hotel. The conference is sponsored by the Jewish Blind Society of England and the Jewish Braille Institute of America, as well as by Israeli government departments and volunteer organizations.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Dr. Moshe Kurtz, director general of the Welfare Ministry, said that while there was no great difficulty in finding employment for blind people in Israel, employers did have to be prompted to accept a blind person and rarely volunteered to do so. Other speakers, both blind and sighted, stressed that the blind can perform many more functions than they are usually allowed to do. President Ephraim Katzir and Mayor Teddy Kollek held separate receptions for the conferees.
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