Lydia Young Hayes Explained

Lydia Young Hayes
Birth Date:September 11, 1871
Birth Place:Hutchinson, Minnesota
Death Date:February 8, 1943
Death Place:Bemidji, Minnesota
Nationality:American
Occupation:Educator, advocate for blind people
Known For:Director, New Jersey Commission for the Blind

Lydia Young Hayes (September 11, 1871 – February 8, 1943) was an American educator, and the first director of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind.

Early life

Lydia Young Hayes was born in Hutchinson, Minnesota, the daughter of Charles W. Hayes, a farmer. She became blind as a girl, after a farm accident.[1] She graduated from the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston,[2] and trained as a teacher at the Kindergarten Normal School of Boston University.[3]

Career

Hayes taught blind children and adults as a young woman.[4] In 1904, she was chosen by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind as one of the state's two home educators for blind adults. Helen Keller recommended Hayes to the governor of New Jersey, to lead that state's programs for blind residents. Hayes became the first director of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind in 1910.[5] [6] [7]

During her tenure, New Jersey did not open a state school for blind children;[8] instead, it offered braille classes in public schools, and integrated classes including both blind and sighted students.[9] "It is more and more believed that the segregation of the blind is not wise either for youth or adult," she told a newspaper in 1913.[10] The state's home education program helped blind adults learn braille and vocational skills.[11] [12]

Hayes testified at a 1937 Congressional hearing on "talking-book records" and equipment in New Jersey libraries: "The majority of the older blind do not read by touch and the talking book is the only way to hear the stories in which they are interested," she explained, adding "in many cases this provides their only recreation".[13] She retired from the director's role in 1937, but remained active with the commission as an educational consultant until 1942.

Hayes was also executive secretary of the New Jersey State Association for the Blind,[14] and president of the Perkins Institution alumnae association.[15] She was a delegate and served on the hospitality committee at the World Conference on Work for the Blind, when it met in New York in 1931.[16] In 1936, she attended the funeral of Anne Sullivan Macy.[17]

Personal life and legacy

In retirement, Hayes moved to Bemidji, Minnesota. She lived with her nephew William Grant Hayes and his wife, Helen Schultz Hayes, who was deafblind and a former student of Lydia Y. Hayes.[18]

Hayes died in Bemidji in 1943, aged 71 years.[19] "She insisted that segregation of the blind was not the part of a proper teaching process", noted a colleague at the time of her death.[20] The Lydia Hayes Memorial Association formed in 1949, and ran the Lydia Hayes Home for the Aged Blind in Kenvil, New Jersey.[21] There was a Lydia Hayes Memorial Award given by the New Jersey State Commission for the Blind for "outstanding achievement by a blind person".[22] [23] [24]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Roberts, Marion Mann. https://books.google.com/books?id=h-6WCBQPZdoC&q=Lydia+Young+Hayes&pg=PA150. Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. 1997-05-01. Syracuse University Press. 9780815604181. Lydia Young Hayes.
  2. Book: Perkins School for the Blind. Annual Report. 1890. 124.
  3. Web site: Lydia Young Hayes – CBVI's First CEO. State of New Jersey, Department of Human Services, Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. 2019-10-25.
  4. Book: Blind, Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the. Annual Report of Perkins School for the Blind: 1909-1910. 1911. printed at Eaton Press. 20. en.
  5. News: Work for the Blind. March 12, 1910. The Montclair Times. October 25, 2019. 1. Newspapers.com.
  6. News: Blind Girl Guides 2,800 Sightless as State Chief. March 8, 1931. Daily News. October 25, 2019. 133. Newspapers.com.
  7. News: Untitled news item. March 14, 1910. Passaic Daily News. October 25, 2019. 8. Newspapers.com.
  8. Book: Farrell, Gabriel. The Story of Blindness. 1956. Harvard University Press. 9780674839403. 57–58.
  9. News: Give Yuletide Program at School No. 2 Today. December 21, 1937. The Morning Call. October 25, 2019. 18. Newspapers.com.
  10. News: Mite-Boxes Under Ban. September 6, 1913. The Montclair Times. October 25, 2019. 6. Newspapers.com.
  11. News: Blind Tutor of Blind to be Dinner Guest. May 2, 1935. Courier-Post. October 25, 2019. 22. Newspapers.com.
  12. News: Home Industries Promoted by Blind Commission God-Send for Sightless. February 16, 1930. The Central New Jersey Home News. October 25, 2019. 12. Newspapers.com.
  13. https://books.google.com/books?id=-W9CvZAyKTkC&q=%22Lydia+Y.+Hayes%22&pg=PA75 "Statement of Lydia Y. Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, Board of Managers, New Jersey Commission for the Blind"
  14. Winter 1917. State Association for the Blind. Outlook for the Blind. 127.
  15. Book: Association, Perkins School for the Blind Alumni. Proceedings at the Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe: November 11, 1901. 1902. Wright & Potter printing Company. 8.
  16. Book: World Conference on Work for the Blind. 1931. Inc American Printing House for the Blind.
  17. News: Funeral Service for Mrs. A. S. Macy. October 23, 1936. The New York Times. 23. ProQuest.
  18. News: 200 Attend Spring Conference Here. April 8, 1937. Bernardsville News. October 25, 2019. 9. Newspapers.com.
  19. News: Miss Lydia Y. Hayes. February 10, 1943. The New York Times. 25. ProQuest.
  20. News: Miss Hayes Dies; Leader of Blind Bedminster Born. February 9, 1943. The Courier-News. October 25, 2019. 10. Newspapers.com.
  21. News: Home for Blind Plans Addition. December 26, 1963. The Record. October 25, 2019. 41. Newspapers.com.
  22. News: Mrs. Tornquist, 71, Receives Blind Achievement Award. October 3, 1953. The Herald-News. October 25, 2019. 4. Newspapers.com.
  23. News: College is Goal of Colonia Woman, Even Though Blind. October 13, 1955. Fords Beacon. October 25, 2019. 1. NewspaperArchive.com.
  24. News: Local Woman Gets Award. July 17, 1965. The Millville Daily. October 25, 2019. 2. Newspapers.com.

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