Scouting, Volume 62, Number 6, September 1974 Page: 62
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On a stifling hot summer day,
some Scouters were laying a
water line for a new camp at the Mo-
hegan Council's Treasure Valley
Reservation, not far from Worcester,
Mass. During a brief rest period, one
of the men turned to another one near-
by and asked, "Why does your dog
have that harness? The only time I've
seen a harness similar to that was on a
Seeing Eye dog."
"Akela is a Seeing Eye dog," came
the calm reply. Like many others be-
fore him, the man hadn't noticed that
Jay Birch, the dog's owner, was blind.
After all, Jay had been down on his
knees tugging, sweating and getting
dirty like everybody else. Akela had
been silently waiting close by all
morning.
Most Scouters who know anything
about the hectic schedules of Scout-
ing professionals are surprised to find
a blind man in such a role. There are
people to see, units to be organized,
meetings to be held, money to raise.
Yet, since June 1973, Jay Birch has
been serving as district Scout execu-
tive for the largest district in* the Mo-
hegan Council.
Jay's unusual story didn't happen
without his share of despair and self-
sympathy. He is a victim of hereditary
retinitis pigmentosa, a condition
which afflicts the retina of the eye. His
mother became blind in her late 50's,
and Jay worried that perhaps he would
be hit, too. He began wearing glasses,
and his eyes started to trouble him
more and more. Nevertheless, it was
still a decided shock in 1970 when he
went to take his driver license test and
was told, "You can't drive. You're le-
gally blind!"
It was an extra shock because by
that time Jay had already been a
Scouting professional for seven years.
He was successful and was enjoying
his work. Now everything came tum-
bling down around him. He couldn't
continue with his job and worried
about supporting his wife, Diane, and
their baby girl, Courtney, "I felt dis-
couraged and helpless," Jay admits,
"and almost gave up."
Deep in gloom, Jay had plenty of
time to think. He remembered that his
mother had continued to teach school
six years after she became blind. And
he remembered a blind friend who, de-
spite his handicap, had been an in-
spiration as nature director in a Scout
summer camp Jay had directed.
A constant visitor was a close friend,
a paraplegic, who had worked with
JAY BIRCH,
20/20
SCOUTER
Blindness doesn't
stop this Massachusetts
man from meeting the
active, challenging
demands of a professional
career in Scouting.
BY DOUG McKAE
Jay as a district commissioner. He
tried to reason with Jay, and then, in
sheer frustration growled, "Stop feel-
ing sorry for yourself. Get up off your
duff and get going or bleep, bleep!"
"He really let me have it," smiles
Jay, "and shook me up quite a bit. Not
long afterward, with Diane's encour-
agement, I started nosing around for
some way out of my predicament."
Jay ended up taking special reha-
bilitation training from the state of
Massachusetts. On top of that, he
spent a month at the Seeing Eye head-
quarters in Morristown, N.J., learning
how to work with a Seeing Eye dog.
Akela (from Cub Scouting's special
term meaning "leader,") is his second
dog, a female as are most Seeing Eye
dogs. Like most of these dogs, she is a
German shepherd, but Labrador re-
trievers, golden retrievers and boxers
are occasionally used. All are inten-
sively trained before starting to work
with their masters or mistresses.
To people unaccustomed to closely
watching a blind person work with a
Seeing Eye dog, the man-dog relation-
ship is a thrilling one. Akela is so ea-
ger to be with and work with Jay that
she almost jumps into her harness
when he holds it up. A model of quiet
dignity when out in public with her
master, she loves to frolic and wrestle
with him at home.
Akela loves Jay and revels in his
praise and his pats on the head and
scratching of her ears. She is smaller
than normal German shepherds (See-
ing Eye dogs are bred that way) and
fits quietly and unobtrusively under
chairs and desks while with Jay in
public. She perks up her ears while
Jay is away, ready to respond immedi-
ately to his call.
Having a Seeing Eye dog opened up
new vistas of activity, but Jay still
needed extra help to fill a professional
Scouter's job. Today he has two driv-
ers from the Volunteer Action Council
who drive him to meetings and to visit
Scouters in the field. Volunteer read-
ers also help with his mail, bulletins
and correspondence, either reading
directly to him or recording the infor-
mation on cassette tapes. He has a
cassette player on his desk at the Mo-
hegan Council office so volunteers
who drop in can leave him messages.
Jay's desk is designed to speed his
work, too, complete with a braille ma-
chine, slate and stylus for writing his
own notes in braille. Needed informa-
tion, such as names, addresses and
phone numbers printed in braille, is
close at hand. His special watch has
raised spots instead of numbers so he
can tell the time without having to ask."
Jay was originally hired by the Mo-
hegan Council to work only with units
for handicapped boys and to organize
similar new units. "However," says
Harry Spanier, the council Scout ex-
ecutive, "he was so capable that we
soon loaded him up with full district
executive responsibilities. He's doing
a dandy job. In fact, North District has
been on target every month this year
on all BOYPOWER goals."
Harry adds that "Jay fits in well with
our staff and has a keen sense of hu-
mor. For example, the other day at a
staff meeting, we were going over our
membership records. When I asked
Jay what his district's member total
was, he quipped, '20/20, the same as
my vision.'"
Herb Adams, (continued on page 100)
62
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 62, Number 6, September 1974, periodical, September 1974; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353624/m1/62/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.