Ruth Kaarlela

Ruth Kaarlela (September 22, 1919 – January 8, 2018) was an American university professor and social worker. Her work was in the fields of blindness, gerontology, and vision rehabilitation therapy.

Ruth Kaarlela
BornSeptember 22, 1919
Keweenaw Bay, Michigan
DiedJanuary 8, 2018
Michigan
OccupationProfessor, social worker, gerontologist, expert on vision rehabilitation
Known forProfessor at Western Michigan University, 1963-1986

Early life

Kaarlela was born and raised in Keweenaw Bay, Michigan,[1] the eleventh of twelve children born to Robert Kaarlela and Mary Kaarlela.[2] When she was a child, she wrote poems published in the Detroit Free Press.[3][4] She attended Baraga High School,[5] and earned her undergraduate and master's level degrees in social work at Wayne State University. She completed doctoral work in gerontology at the University of Michigan. She also held a teaching certificate in special education.[6]

Career

Kaarlela had a variety of jobs as a young woman. At age 20, she was a live-in servant in Detroit, Michigan.[7] She was program chair for the Ingham County Council of Social Welfare in 1949 and 1950.[8][9] In 1953, she worked with the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis, speaking to community groups on the possibilities of a polio vaccine.[10] She worked at the Industrial Home for the Blind in Mineola, New York for three years, and as a mobile teacher for blind children on Long Island.[11] She was supervisor of a day school for emotionally disabled children in Nassau County.[1][12]

From 1963 to 1986, Kaarlela was a professor at Western Michigan University, specializing in vision rehabilitation.[13][14][15] She was chair of the Department of Blindness and Vision Studies from 1980 to 1986. She taught the school's first course in gerontology, and helped to establish the gerontology degree program.[1] She was chair of the Association of University Educators in Rehabilitation Teaching and Orientation and Mobility and other bodies at the state and national level.[6] In retirement she worked with the American Foundation for the Blind, in a community health program serving Native Americans.[16]

In 2001, Kaarlela received the Migel Medal from the American Foundation for the Blind. She was inducted into the American Printing House for the Blind's Hall of Fame in 2002.[1]

Personal life

In retirement, Kaarlela traveled, lived with her widowed sister Edith,[17] and was active in the Finnish Cultural Center and the Finnish American Historical Society.[12] She died in 2018, aged 98 years.[6]

References
  1. "Ruth Kaarlela". American Printing House for the Blind, Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  2. "Obituary for Ruth Kaarlela at Thayer-Rock Funeral Home". Thayer-Rock Funeral Home. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  3. Kaarlela, Ruth (1930-08-24). "The Seasons". Detroit Free Press. p. 55. Retrieved 2020-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Kaarlela, Ruth (1930-12-28). "Santa's Trip". Detroit Free Press. p. 66. Retrieved 2020-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ""Honor Students Listed at Baraga" L'Anse Sentinel". Michigan Newspaper Collection. 5 December 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  6. "Dr. Ruth Kaarlela obituary". Western Michigan University. 2018-07-20. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  7. Ruth Kaarlela in the 1940 U. S. Census.
  8. "Panel Discussion on 'Family' Set". Lansing State Journal. 1949-11-28. p. 16. Retrieved 2020-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Panel Discussion Planned Thursday". Lansing State Journal. 1950-04-19. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Rotarians Hear of Polio Vaccine". Johnson City Press. 1953-08-25. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Kaarlela, Ruth (September 1959). "The Role of the Family in Developing Independence in the Blind Child". Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness. 53 (7): 245–248. doi:10.1177/0145482x5905300702. ISSN 0145-482X. S2CID 220593461.
  12. Duffy, Maureen A. (2003). "Dr. Ruth Kaarlela, Founder of Rehabilitation Teaching/Vision Rehabilitation Therapy". VisionAware. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  13. Kaarlela, Ruth (March 1966). "Home Teaching—A Description". Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness. 60 (3): 80–83. doi:10.1177/0145482x6606000303. ISSN 0145-482X. S2CID 220589245.
  14. Ponchillia, Paul E.; Ponchillia, Susan Kay Vlahas (1996). Foundations of Rehabilitation Teaching with Persons who are Blind Or Visually Impaired. American Foundation for the Blind. ISBN 978-0-89128-939-5.
  15. Crews, John E.; Whittington, Frank J. (2000). Vision Loss in an Aging Society: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. American Foundation for the Blind. pp. xvii. ISBN 978-0-89128-307-2.
  16. Alberta L. Orr and Ruth Kaarlela. "The Seven Module Curriculum on Aging, Vision Loss and Independent Living Skills" sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind and the Administration on Aging.
  17. "Obituary for EDITH E. RASKI". Detroit Free Press. 2013-12-15. pp. A25. Retrieved 2020-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
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