Roy Ward (advocate)

Roy J. Ward Sr. (1920 – October 7, 2011) was an American public administrator, educator, and advocate for the blind who served as the deputy director of the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired. He was also the founder and first board chair of Virginia Voice, a radio reading service for Virginia citizens. Ward also served on the boards of the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services and the Virginia State Rehabilitation Council.

Early life and family

Roy J. Ward was born in 1920 in Rockville Centre, New York, the son of James and Edith Ward. He was legally blind since birth, having been born with infantile glaucoma. As a young man he pursued scouting and reached the rank of Eagle Scout in 1937. He went on to attend Cornell University, graduating in 1941.

Ward was married to Mabel Wallace Apsey and had three children.

Career

Ward began his professional life working as a teacher with the Maryland School for the Blind, then worked for the Lighthouse for the Blind. By the late 1950s, he had moved to Virginia. During the early 1960s, when tenpin bowling was first introduced in Virginia, Ward organized bowling leagues for blind participants in Richmond and other cities across the state. He became deeply involved with the American Blind Bowling Association, serving first as its secretary/treasurer and later as its president.

Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired

In 1959 he joined the Virginia Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired, where he would remain for the next twenty-six years. While employed there, he returned to graduate study and earned a master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1966. During his tenure at the agency, he oversaw and established several new rehabilitation programs and special services in the state.

He retired from the Virginia Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 1985 as deputy director. After his retirement, he went on to be appointed by the Virginia General Assembly to serve on the Virginia State Rehabilitation Council.

Virginia Voice

In the late 1970s, Ward helped establish the Virginia Voice, a radio reading service that broadcasts newspapers, magazines, books, and other printed material to people with visual impairments. Ward had learned of emerging "audio reading services" operating in other jurisdictions, and formed a community group consisting of Lions Club and Kiwanis Club members, who committed to fund the purchase of specialized sub-carrier radio receivers needed to pick up the broadcasts. Ward and his collaborators secured additional funding from multiple sources and formed the organization's board of directors, with Ward as its first chairman.

The new organization, then called Virginia Voice for the Print Handicapped, held its first board meeting in 1978.

Ward was also a longtime member of the American Council of the Blind, and the Lions Club, where he served as chairman of the sight conservation committee.

Death

Ward died in 2011 at the age of 91.

Honors

The Virginia State Rehabilitation Council named the Roy J. Ward SRC Employee Leadership Recognition Award in his honor.

The American Blind Bowling Association also recognized Ward with the Abe Cohen Memorial Award, and named him as their second life member.