Out of the Running
- Author:
Gertrude
Hoopes. With a Foreword by Edgar A. Doll, Ph.D., Department of Research, Vineland Training School, and with Clinical Notes by Winthrop M. Phelos, M.D., Director of Children’s Rehabilitation Institute, Baltimore. Clias. C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinoi.s. $2.00.
The author of this autobiography has suffered since birth from grave physical handicaps. To quote from a medical report on her condition :?
” She is about the size of a child of twelve… . She is practically mute, never trying to talk… . The muscles of the face, especially the frontalis and masseter muscles, are in constant motion. The tongue is moved continuously from side to side, protruded, retracted, never still for a moment. The head is jerked forward, backward, from one side to the other. The shoulders are from time to time elevated and depressed.”
Until the age of 45 she was able, though with difficulty, to walk; then an accident deprived her even of this limited freedom of movement and since that time she has only been able to move about by using a specially constructed tricycle.
Nevertheless this book is a record of achievement despite almost heartbreaking difficulties. At the end of it we leave the author living a life enriched by her spiritual vitality (she is a devout Catholic), by the mental alertness which enables her to listen with zest to radio talks and discussions, by a power of aesthetic appreciation which finds delighted satisfaction in the great music which reaches her through the same channel, by practical ingenuity through which she is able to use a typewriter (albeit with one finger only) to communicate with others through a shorthand sign language, and even to play a little on the piano.
Just as Helen Keller’s autobiography brought a message of courage and hope to the blind and deaf mute, so will our present author’s bring such a message to those who are ” out of the running” through grave physical deformity. Equally to relatives and social workers concerned with their welfare should the book be of value in increasing understanding, deepening respect and encouraging an attitude of faith in the hidden possibilities even of those who seem to be immured in a prison, the key of which is in no man’s keeping.
To Dr Doll?who contributes a Foreword to the book?the author freely expresses her gratitude. Without his encouragement and guidance, she tells us, it would never have been written. A. L. H.
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