Hindsight

For a very long time now most of us in this field have been generally labeled "workers for the blind." As a matter of fact, the phrase has received and still receives so much usage that some of us have even thought that it is a profession in itself: Work for the Blind. A while back, however, some of us became a bit squeamish about custodial connotations and began using the phrase "work with the blind." This approach is really not very popular and I doubt that it will catch on much more than it already has. These variations in prepositional relationships are only a taste of a really wide assortment. As reflected in agency and association names, one finds programs "for the relief of," "for the education of," "for the reha,bilitation of," and so on. There are enJtities "for the proteiotion of," "for the comfor-t of," "for improving the condition of" and "for promoting the interests of." The more modern professional likes to get a bit more verbose and work "in a program serving blind persons." By far the most vocal school of thought lately in this matter of _prepositions are those among us who substitute of in place of for in the original catch-all of "work for ,the blind." The only difficulty this presents is a grammatical one, since one really cannot say that he is a worker· of the blind. Most of us are pretty much aware of the fine points behind these exacting discriminations, and appreciate the import of the distinction if one is referring to an