HISTORY

Organized services to blind and visually impaired persons in the State of Hawaii originated in 1935. In that year, the former Territorial Legislature authorized the establishment of the Bureau of Sight Conservation and Work with the Blind.

The Bureau began with a staff of three and an appropriation of $20,000 for the biennium, 1935-37. The initial task of the Bureau was to identify and register all blind persons and operate a workshop for blind persons. At the end of its first year of operation, 355 persons were registered as blind.

The Randolph-Sheppard act passed by Congress in 1936 was a landmark in providing employment opportunities for blind persons. This act provided for the establishment of ending stands in  public buildings. A year later, the Territorial Legislature provided for blind persons to operate these stands in state and county buildings.

In Hawaii, the first vending stand was built in 1938 in the former Post Office Building. Without public funds, the agency called upon Honolulu Lions Club to assist the Bureau in establishing the first vending facility.  This was one of the many projects which have followed as a result of a close working relationship between the Services for the Blind Branch and the Lions Clubs in the state.

In 1943, Congress passed the Vocational Rehabilitation Act which provided agencies for the blind to administer vocational rehabilitation services to blind persons. By qualifying for these federal dollars, the Bureau further expanded employment opportunities for blind persons by providing counseling, diagnostic, training, and equipment and placement services to blind persons.

By 1951, the services included social case work, vocational rehabilitation, a shop for the blind, and a vending facility program. Prevention of blindness activities were carried out through the vision screening programs of all school children, rural eye clinics, and community education.

By this time also, professionals in the field were aware of the Hoover method of cane travel to teach blind persons to travel independently and the need for more training in the use of hand and power tools.

The initial stages of a comprehensive rehabilitation program had its beginnings in 1951 with a pilot six-week summer program in personal adjustment training of blind persons at Farrington High School. The summer programs continued until 1955. And again, as the agency was developing this innovative program without funds, the Lions Clubs of Hawaii generously assisted with funding.

In 1955, the Department of Public Works made available a small building across the main office for year-round adjustment services. In the same year, the Legislature appropriated $150,000 for acquisition of land and architectural plans to house a center for blind services and its offices.

In October, 1962, Ho'opono (shortened from Ho'oponopono and literally meaning "to make things right") was finally completed at a cost of $676,000. Lions Clubs in Hawaii raised $20,000. The federal Hill-Burton funds allocated $200,000, and the balance was funded by the Legislature.

In 1972, after deliberately working towards meeting nationally recognized standards for agencies serving blind persons, Ho'opono was the seventh state agency in the Nation to be accredited by the National Accreditation Council for Agencies serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped.

Today, Ho'opono provides comprehensive rehabilitation services including instruction in braille, typing, abacus, and computer access training; mobility for independent travel, including the use of electronic mobility aids; occupational therapy for daily living skills; personal and home management for independent living, and social and recreation activities. A special optical aids clinic is available to individuals who can utilize specially magnifying devices for reading and distance viewing. Vocational teachers are also available to assist blind persons make the adjustment toward a vocational goal and independent living.

The vending facility program now provides employment to 38 persons who operate small businesses in the form of news, books, and magazine stands, snack bars and cafeterias, in public buildings.

For some blind employees who are unable to work in the competitive industries, we operate a workshop where 30 blind and other disabled individuals can still be productive workers at their own pace.