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Growth: 1950s-1970s

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From the 1950s to the 1970s, World Services for the Blind experienced a period of exponential growth. Not only did the center expand its physical footprint, but it also increased its client base and service offerings.

By: Emily Summers

National and International Expansion

Services aimed at increasing blind employment experienced a nationwide expansion in the 1950s, and the rehabilitation center in the heart of Arkansas acted as one of the leaders in that movement. Blind people from neighboring states began traveling to the Prevocational Adjustment Center for the Adult Blind for its vocational and life skills programs. In 1951, the center changed its name to Southwest Rehabilitation Center for the Blind to further attract more out-of-state clients. Its name later changed to Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind Rehabilitation Center (AEB) in 1963.

As the center’s reputation grew, people under sponsorship of the United Nations or the U.S. State Department came to visit AEB. These international visitors led AEB director Roy Kumpe to become interested in how different countries handled blindness. He decided the center should open its programs to other countries. As a result, AEB formed International Services for the Blind (ISB) in 1971 as an affiliate non-profit. Its purpose was to bring blind international clients to train at AEB and to support fundraising and research. Kumpe, acting as a consultant for ISB, traveled to government agencies in El Salvador, Columbia, Uruguay, and Bolivia.

Roy Kumpe in Seoul, Korea with Yong Bong Park, 1979

Lou Rives, Roy Kumpe, and an unidentified woman in a sari feeling a raised-relief globe, circa 1960s

Newspaper clipping about Kumpe's visit to the blind rehabilitation center in El Salvador, El Mundo, 16 March 1871

Southwest Rehabilitation Center, 14 March 1958

Roy Kumpe next to the Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind sign, circa 1960s

With the growing client base and demand for training, AEB outgrew its original facility in the Brack Home. Subsequently, the center underwent two construction phases to expand its campus. From 1960 to 1963, the center built four new buildings: a men’s dorm, a women’s dorm, an administration office, and a multipurpose building. By 1974, AEB needed to further expand its campus; the instructors and staff alone totaled over ninety individuals. During the mid to late 1970s, AEB held a million dollar campaign to implement a three-phase building program. By the end of these two construction phases, the campus had grown from a single seventeen-room mansion to a six-building complex, covering an entire city block.

Learn more about campus expansion by reading The Campus

National Accreditation

Along with growing its campus, AEB solidified its reputation by earning national accreditation. In 1963, the American Foundation for the Blind joined with other blind organizations to form the Commission on Standards and Accreditation of Services for the Blind (COMSTAC). Roy Kumpe served on COMSTAC, focusing his efforts on standards for rehabilitation centers. Upon COMSTAC’s recommendations, the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC) was formed in January 1967 as the accrediting agency for all blind institutions, including rehabilitation centers, guide dog schools, and residential schools. NAC ensured these facilities met national standards for training, management, and ethical fundraising.

Although AEB had received the American Association of Workers for the Blind’s “Seal of Good Practice” every year since 1957, the center wanted to set an example for other blind facilities. In February 1970, AEB became the first blind rehabilitation center in the country to be accredited by NAC.

James Max Woolly and Roy Kumpe holding the NAC certification, 1970

Kumpe and Woolly on NAC Accreditation

Roy Kumpe and J. Max Woolly comment on receiving the NAC accreditation, February 1970

The KATV Collection, courtesy of the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas.

IRS Program

During the 1960s and 1970s, AEB also acted as a leader in creating new vocational programs and graduating highly skilled blind employees. One of the center’s most well-known programs was its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxpayer service representative program. The idea for the program came about when Fred Johnson, the local IRS director, gave a speech at an AEB banquet. With Johnson’s help, AEB received a federal grant and began teaching the course. During its run from 1967 to 2017, over 1,300 blind clients graduated from the course and were hired by the IRS.

Vocational Programs

In addition, AEB expanded its partnerships with governmental agencies and formed relationships with private corporations. In 1973, the center created a civil service information specialist course to train representatives for the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Recognizing the opportunities of employment for blind individuals in computer programming, AEB began offering computer training as part of its vocational training services in 1973. The program grew to become a separate computer programming course by 1980, and it held the highest job placement success rate of the courses offered at AEB. The center also found employment for its graduates in large companies such as Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. Graduates from AEB were the first blind long-distance switchboard operators in the country. In addition, AEB helped the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) create a master’s degree program for orientation and mobility specialists in 1977. The center raised grant money to support UA Little Rock’s program, and it continues to host internships for its students.

Over the course of three decades, AEB grew its client base, campus, and programs to become a leader in the field of blind rehabilitation and vocational training.

Newspaper article about AEB receiving a $100,000 grant to continue training Civil Service Information Specialists, 13 January 1977

Newspaper article about the first blind long-distance telephone operator, MIT Tech Talk, 25 May 1977

Sources

Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind collection, UALR.MS.0088, UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, Little Rock, AR.

Dickerson, Larry R., and Larry Morgan. “World Services for the Blind.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Central Arkansas Library System. Last modified January 25, 2022. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/world-services-for-the-blind-4697/.

Kumpe, Roy, and Jim Lester. The Lion’s Share: A History of Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind. Little Rock: Rose Publishing Company, 1983.

“Master of Arts in Rehabilitation for the Blind: Orientation and Mobility.” School of Counseling, Human Performance and Rehabilitation. University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Accessed July 9, 2022. https://ualr.edu/chpr/orientation-mobility/.

Tuttle, Dean, and Naom Tuttlei. “Roy Kumpe: Inducted 2002.” Hall of Fame: Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field. American Printing House for the Blind. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://sites.aph.org/hall/inductees/kumpe/.

About the Author

Emily Summers completed her Master of Arts degree in Public History from UA Little Rock in 2021. She is a processing archivist at the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.

Beginnings

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