 This is an ordinary milling machine. Cutter stops, the table is moved clear and the operator mikes the work for size. But this is not an ordinary operator. It's Al Leslie doing a job he thought he'd never be able to handle. Two years ago, Al might have felt linked. As he was convalescing from his amputation, nothing but gloomy thoughts filled his mind. What good was a fellow without a right hand, especially if all he ever did was to work around machines? So after his stump had healed and left a tender spot where his hand had been, he felt through. Yes, ever since the heavy grinder crushed his hand when he assisted the millwright in moving the big machine into place, Al had undergone a great change. He doubted whether he was good anymore, felt apart from other men, and dreaded to think of the future. To drive these troubles from his mind, he had to get going, where he didn't know. But get going he must. When he left the hospital, the doctor had handed him this booklet, gotten out by the rehabilitation service. He had looked through it only casually, but remembered it promised advice and help. Maybe this was it. Al was an independent fellow and hated the idea of anybody doing anything for him. But he was feeling pretty low. Anything to get out of this frame of mind. So this was it. Rehabilitation, eh? He found himself walking into the office mechanically. The cordial greeting of the rehabilitation man made him feel better at once. The interview that followed gave him a spark of hope. He was encouraged to talk about himself, about his doubts, his plans. He went through the simple tests the rehabilitation man suggested to determine his general health, the condition of the vital fundamental mechanisms of his body. His interests and abilities were explored by such tests as the form board, which times the speed of hand and eye coordination. The dexterity test in which small pins placed into holes show facility of finger manipulation. The object assembly test, which reveals ability to recognize and assemble familiar patterns. Al impatiently awaited his second interview to get the results. Well Al, you seem to be a pretty good specimen of health according to the doctor's report. You've got a good heart, good lungs, good legs, good arm, and a good head. You ought to be able to do a good day's work. Maybe, but what good's a one-armed man? That depends on the man, Al. What do you mean? Well, many people have started life with severe disabilities and yet managed to do outstanding work in their time. But a man with one arm is so limited. Yes and no. Everybody has limitations of one sort or another. Some lesser, some greater. But that doesn't prevent most of us from doing a pretty good job or leading a pretty good life. You can do the same. I wonder. Who knows at this moment how far you can go. So much depends on effort, persistence, courage. Al, you like machine shop work, don't you? Yes, that's all I've ever done. Why don't you go back to it? Do you think I can? Of course. But do employers think the same way about it that you do? Some do. Others have to be shown. We'll give you further training and we'll find you an employer who'll at least give you a chance. It's a big thing. How can I do machine work this way? Al learned in the pre-employment training that a man who worked with his hands could still work with his hands even though one of them was supplied by the rehabilitation service. A hand cleverly devised by man to take the place of the one the machine had destroyed. Handicapped? Perhaps. But only in the sense that a handicap is an obstacle placed in the way of a contender to be overcome. The contender was Al with his brain and reborn spirit. Al won. Now Al is a producer doing a full day's work and the equal of any man on the job. Al's history is not unusual. It is repeated in plants and factories throughout the country in every place that men work. Victor Saccar is employed as a machinist by a company making roller bearings. Although he lost his right hand he sets up all his own jobs starting with grinding his tool bit. Gaging the piece he makes sure he has ground just the right angle. He is able to prepare his machines inserting the tool bit and getting it lined up on center. With his right stump and left hand he works as rapidly and accurately as any two-handed man. He uses no special attachments in operating the hand wheels and controls. In his own manner but without lost motion he prepares his work piece and mounts it between centers. Victor's right stump and left hand work in perfect coordination enabling him to handle operations on a standard lathe. He has his own way of manipulating the micrometer a right-handed instrument but his method of adjusting it on the work piece and getting the right feel with him accurate readings. Joe Simonic does carpentry. Joe lost eight fingers in an accident but with his thumbs he can handle the regular tools of his trade. Planing is no special problem for him. Neither is the use of the keyhole saw to cut a curved pattern. He cuts off the end with the regular rip saw and lines up the finished piece on the cabinet he is making. A simple handle of his own design bent over his thumb and strapped to his wrist enables him to use a hammer. With this device he can drive the nails into place. William Camby, a one-armed electric welder works in a plant making pipe railing. With the aid of a work hook he can handle all the tools he needs and performs all phases of arc welding. Camby developed this method of rounding the edges of a 90 degree corner. He turns away a section of the corner by arc. While the metal is hot he hammers it down. With expert strokes he shapes the metal into perfect round. He is top man in welding at the plant. Frank Steffen is a one-armed gas welder employed by the same plant. Using a metal right hand as a support he handles the torch with his left cutting the metal through. The tough metal hand becomes a strong hammer and a pipe. A thread cut in this hand device of Frank's own making receives the small hammer to chip off rough spots. For gas welding Frank does not use the metal hand. Unscrewing it from its socket he inserts a clamp device. The clamp hooks conveniently onto a welding torch holding it securely. Frank is ambidextrous working the welding torch with his artificial right hand and the cutting torch with his left. Frank and Gadion have been in the company's employ for years. While scores of other welders with no disabilities have come and gone. Ralph Patevano is doing a job of utmost delicacy and great precision. Aligning the balance wheel of a wrist watch. Observing through the magnifying loop he holds the tiny wheel in tweezers positioning it carefully on the jeweler's calipers. While his artificial hand adjusts the knurled screw securing the wheel on its delicate pinions or truing. Lou Wallenrod, severely crippled by polyamolitis nevertheless gets to work unaided. He is skilled in jewelry making. So long as he can sit at his work his vocation presents no problems to him. The tools of his trade are within reach and whether he uses the saw to trim the design he has cut or the file to smooth the edges he is at no disadvantage in production to any able-bodied person doing the same work. Ruth Aleen was born with but one finger on each unformed hand yet she has become a very efficient sewing machine operator. She uses her two fingers skillfully to insert the tape in the binder helping it through with a scissor blade. Then she threads pulling the thread quickly through all the necessary places. Ruth knows her machine well and does not make false starts or waste motions. The head must be threaded just right otherwise the thread will feed improperly or break. It must go through the thread guide through the tension discs and the take-up lever. Finally the critical job of getting the thread through the eye of the needle has become easy for practice has made her two fingers as efficient as ten. Ruth's work is neat and sure. She is one of the best workers in her shop. Marie Helleneck is an efficient secretary even though she has one hand. She has no difficulty in performing her duties and has worked out methods of her own to do the things usually regarded as two-handed jobs. Handicapped? Maybe. But the armless, the legless, the twisted, the broken all these have written a story of achievement and courage in industry. Their record stands for All to See in a survey made by the government in the employment efficiency of physically impaired workers. Letters from officials of plants, factories, and business establishments from every part of the country attest to their work. An executive of this plant says in our engraving plant, production of these men in the press department, die cutting department, and shipping department is actually higher than that of others free of disability. They apparently try harder and are more conscientious in their work. This is what an officer of another company states. Our company making electrical appliances has employed handicapped workers for many years as spot welders, punch press operators, and so forth. Handicapped employees not only met the standards of physically normal workers but in many cases excelled in job performance. An official of this company attests as follows. From the standpoint of absenteeism, our experience has shown that disabled employees have less absenteeism than the normal. Labor turnover is also less. The employment man of this firm has this to say. Absenteeism is at an extreme minimum. So far we've had very little turnover. We'd like to employ more of these men. An executive of this corporation declares in aircraft work, their accident rates are on the whole better than average. Knowing their limitations, they're more careful and do not attempt jobs beyond their capabilities. As time goes on, more people will be added to the army of those who paid the price of physical impairment to modern life. Yet their record of achievement has shown that man's spirit cannot be conquered by physical setbacks. The physically impaired are ready for new opportunities to take part in the productive and creative activities of industry.