3. The occupations open to them and in which they are successfully employed are much larger in number than is generally thought, and in many their infirmity is very little of a drawback. 4. The deaf hold themselves on an economic equality with the rest of their fellow-citizens, and ask no alms or favors of any kind. 5. Beyond homes for certain of the aged and infirm, which are called for in not a few quarters, the deaf stand in need of little distinctive economic treatment from society. FOOTNOTES: [94] Special Reports, p. 146ff. [95] The proportion for the deaf would no doubt be higher but for the large number in the schools. It should also be noted that "keeping house", the most usual occupation reported by females, is not listed among the occupations. [96] Several of the deaf have won distinction as artists, and there have been not a few inventors. In the civil service of the National government there are said to be nearly two score. In 1908 an order was issued by the Civil Service Commission, debarring deaf persons from this service. So great was the protest, however, made by the deaf and their friends that the decision was reversed by the President, and the deaf were allowed to compete for any position where their deafness would not interfere. See _Annals_, liii., 1908, p. 249; liv., 1909, p. 387; _Volta Review_, x., 1908, p. 224; _Silent Worker_, Feb., 1909; Proceedings of National Association of the Deaf, ix., 1910, pp. 26, 70. [97] Paupers in Alms-houses, 1913, p. 76. In 1911 there were in the alms-houses of Illinois, according to the Report of the state board of charities, 38 deaf-mutes, or 0.5 per cent of the entire alms-house population; in Indiana, 81, or 2.6 per cent; in New York, 191, or 1.8 per cent; and in Virginia, 17, or 0.7 per cent. In Michigan, according to the annual Abstract of Statistical Information Relating to the Insane, Deaf and Dumb, etc., for 1912, of the 1,059 deaf persons reported, 32, or 3 per cent, were cared for at public expense. [98] The percentage for the general population is 0.1.