Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind is a state agency of Massachusetts, serving citizens who are blind or low vision. Established in 1906, MCB is the first state agency for blindness in the history of the United States. Helen Keller was one of its five founding commissioners and helped shape its early direction.
History
The push for a state agency for blindness began with a legislative resolve in 1899, which directed the Massachusetts Board of Education to study whether adults who were blind could be taught at home. The idea gained momentum largely because of J. Newton Breed, a Somerville resident who lost his sight as an adult and saw firsthand how many blind people ended up unemployed and without purpose. Breed pushed hard for a home-instruction program.
A subsequent state report confirmed that the need was real and largely unaddressed, concluding that home instruction could benefit a meaningful number of blind adults. Acting on that finding, lawmakers in 1900 set aside $1,000 for the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind to begin such instruction, with the State Board of Education overseeing how the money was spent. The Perkins trustees separately gave $100 to the school's alumni association, which had already begun teaching blind women at home in 1898. Funding continued to grow, and over these years four blind instructors taught reading and writing in embossed type, along with crafts such as basket weaving, sewing, and knitting.
In 1902, a group of women connected to the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston grew concerned about the welfare of blind adults. They rallied philanthropists and civic leaders to form the Massachusetts Association for Promoting the Interests of the Adult Blind, originally hoping to build an industrial home modeled on similar institutions in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Governor John L. Bates suggested a different approach, and in 1903 the group instead asked lawmakers to authorize a study commission that would report back on the condition of blind adults by 1904.
The commission's January 1904 report called for a standing five-member board with the power to build a full registry of blind adults in Massachusetts, run an employment-assistance bureau, and open workshop schools. The final report, delivered January 15, 1906, included both the completed registry and a draft bill. Its core recommendations were that a permanent board (open to women and to blind individuals) should maintain the registry, serve as an information and advisory bureau, help place blind residents in jobs and home-based trades, and have authority to run industrial schools and workshops.
With only minor changes, the bill became law as Chapter 385 of the Acts of 1906, signed by Governor Curtis Guild Jr. on May 11, 1906. Helen Keller and members of the Massachusetts Association for Promoting the Interests of the Adult Blind had lobbied actively for its passage.
Testifying before the Massachusetts Legislature in 1903, Keller argued that education without a path to work left blind people worse off than before, and urged the state to create a commission that could help the blind support themselves - benefiting the blind, easing the state's own caretaking burden, and setting an example for others to follow.
On July 6, 1906, Governor Guild named the five founding commissioners, which included Keller. At their first meeting on July 18, 1906, the commissioners elected Dr. Edward M. Hartwell as chairman and Robert L. Raymond as secretary. By 1912 the agency's budget had grown to $50,000, its registry listed over 4,000 blind residents, and its staff had expanded to 30 (a dozen of them blind), while veterans returning from World War I further increased demand for services.
During the Great Depression, the commission became the state distributor for Talking Book record players following the device's 1934 introduction, and in the mid-1930s the federal Randolph-Sheppard Act nationalized the agency's existing Vending Facilities Program. World War II veterans returning with vision loss drove another surge in demand for the MCB. This period saw research and funding go toward helping newly blinded veterans adapt, including work that helped refine the white cane and the formal creation of a Vocational Rehabilitation Program. New federal and state funding let the commission expand staffing and services across education, orientation and mobility training, and job placement. The agency's children's programs grew through the 1950s as more blind students enrolled in public-school "Sight-Saving Classes." By the 1960s, placement in mainstream classrooms became increasingly common, a shift later formalized by Chapter 766 in 1974.
Controversies
A 2019 audit by State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump found that the MCB's case-management system was missing race data for nearly 10 percent of open participant records in its vocational rehabilitation program, a gap MCB attributed to its transition to a newer database; the audit also found the agency lacked a system for tracking informal client complaints, recording only formal ones. MCB took several corrective steps in response, including requiring race data entry going forward and improving its complaint-tracking procedures.
In January 2021, the agency permanently closed its branch offices in New Bedford and Worcester amid the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting to remote and in-community service delivery, a move that drew criticism from local advocates who worried about record-keeping and reduced community access.
A September 2024 investigation found that for much of the previous two years, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, working in conjunction with the MCB, repeatedly failed to notify people with legally blind vision that they were required to surrender their driver's licenses, including an eight-month gap starting in January 2023 and a complete lapse during the first four months of 2024. The failures stemmed from the MCB not confirming matches on the RMV's list, a problem that was attributed to staff turnover.
Programs
Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 6, Section 136, eye care providers are required to report cases of legal blindness to MCB within 30 days of diagnosis; once a report comes in, an MCB counselor reaches out to explain the benefits and programs available. As of the present day, MCB serves roughly 30,000 legally blind residents of Massachusetts, connecting them with employment opportunities and rehabilitation services aimed at fostering independence and full participation in community life.
MCB has continued to lead in communication training for blind residents. Its rehabilitation teachers, assistive-technology specialists, and orientation and mobility instructors have taught braille and trained people to use Talking Book machines, optical and tactile reading devices, speech-recognition software, and talking GPS units.
Leadership
The agency is led by a five-member statutory advisory board appointed with the consent of the Governor of Massachusetts, with a commissioner leading the agency. The current commissioner of the agency is John Oliveira.