Magazines for the Blind

magazines printed in Braille, or in unraised type, or as tape recordings or phonograph records.

In Russia the first magazines for the blind were Drug slepykh (Friend of the Blind, 1887–88) and Dosug slepykh (Leisure Reading for the Blind, 1898–1917). These magazines published literary works, reports on the activities of charitable organizations that provided supervision for blind people, articles on religious themes, and decrees of the tsarist government. Blind people took virtually no part in producing the magazines, for very few of them were literate.

From the very first years of Soviet power, there were published sociopolitical, cultural-educational, literary, and sports magazines, as well as bulletins and periodical collections for the blind. This is a list of Soviet magazines for the blind published in 1970. Some that are published in Moscow in the RSFSR areNasha zhizn’ (Our Life; since 1924; title changed from Zhizn slepykh [Life of the Blind] in 1968), a monthly printed in Braille and, since November 1956, also in unraised type; Sovetskii shkol’nik (Soviet Pupil; since 1937), a monthly printed in Braille; Slepoi massazhist (Blind Masseur; since 1958), a quarterly printed in Braille that also is published in unraised type under the title Konsul’tatsii i metodicheskie ukazaniia nezriachim massazhistam (Advice and Instruction for the Visually Handicapped Masseur); V pomosheh’ kuVturnoprosvetitelnomy rabotniku (Help for the Cultural and Educational Worker; since 1962), a quarterly in Braille; Fizkul’tura i sport (Physical Culture and Sports; since 1962), a quarterly in Braille; Shakhmaty i shashki (Chess and Checkers; since 1962), a quarterly in Braille; andPr/zyv (The Call, since 1963), a monthly in Braille. These magazines are published in Leningrad: Literaturnye chteniia (Readings in Literature; since 1963), a monthly in Braille; V pomoshch’ khydozhestvennoi samodeiatel’nosti (Help for the Amateur Artist; since 1962), a quarterly in Braille; and V mire muzyki (In the World of Music; since 1967), a quarterly in Braille. In the Ukrainian SSR (Kiev) a magazine for the blind is published under the titleZaklik (The Call; formerly entitled, from 1949 to \\96\\,Pratsia slipykh, or The Work of the Blind), a monthly printed in Braille and, since 1965, in unraised type as well, in both Russian and Ukrainian. Other magazines for the blind published in the other Soviet republics are: in the Latvian SSR (Riga), Rosme (Revival, since 1957), a monthly published in Braille and unraised type; in the Uzbek SSR (Tashkent), the magazine Bir safda (In the Same Ranks, since 1957; title changed in 1962 from Uzbekistan kurlarining khayoti, or Life of the Blind in Uzbekistan), a monthly published in Braille and, since 1968, in unraised type as well, in both Russian and Uzbek; in the Lithuanian SSR (Vilnius), the magazine Musutobus (Our Word, since 1959), a monthly published in both Braille and unraised type; in the Kazakh SSR (Alma-Ata), the magazine Enbek tany (The Dawn of Labor, since 1964), a monthly published in both Braille and unraised type in Russian and Kazakh; in the Georgian SSR (Tbilisi), the magazine Sinatle (Light, since 1966), a monthly published in Braille.

Along with sociopolitical, literary, and scientific-educational material, Soviet magazines for the blind publish articles and essays on topics such as communist education; the scientific organization of labor; new developments in production, education, and mass cultural work; the activities of scientific, social, and sports organizations for the blind; chess matches; musical notation for blind musicians and singers; reference materials on social, domestic, labor, juridical, and medical questions; and articles on the social situation of blind people in countries outside the USSR. Blind journalists, writers, scholars, and inventors actively participate in and contribute to Soviet magazines for the blind.

Magazines for the blind are also published in both Braille and unraised type in other countries, including the following: in Bulgaria, Zhivot na slepite’, in the German Democratic Republic, Die Gegenwart and Freundschaft’, in Poland, Pochodnia’t in Rumania, Viaja Nona’, in Czechoslovakia, Zora’, in Yugoslavia, Nas vesnik\\ in Great Britain, The New Beacon and Progress’, in the USA, Our Times and Social Work (in the form of sound recordings); in France, Readaptation\\ and in Finland, Sokeain Airut.

Questions of psychology, education of the blind, rehabilitation, and compensation for blindness are dealt with in such scientific journals as Defektologiia (Treatment of the Handicapped, USSR), Socijalna misao (Yugoslavia), andAfew Outlook for the Blind (USA).