Father Thomas J. Carroll (August 6, 1909 – April 24, 1971)[1] was a Catholic priest and a pioneer in treatment for people who became blind later in their lives,.
[2][3][4] He was also a leader in implementing liturgical renewal in the Catholic church after Vatican II[5] and took an active part in the civil rights movement.
[6][7] Father Thomas Carroll graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1932[8] and from St. Johns Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1938.
[2][7][23][24] In 1938, Carroll's first assignment after ordination was as the assistant director of the Catholic Guild for The Blind, an agency of the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts.
[7] Carroll played a key role in the establishment of low vision and blind services for the military and veterans administrations.
[26][27] He was auxiliary chaplain working with blinded serviceman at the U.S. Army's Ophthalmological Center located at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and at the Avon Old Farms Convalescent Hospital in Connecticut from 1944 to 1947.
Members included Robert Irwin (Chairman of the committee), Colonel Baker (Canada), Reverend Thomas Carroll, Joseph G. Cauffma, Dr. Roma S. Cheek, Dr. Gabriel Farrell, Philip N. Harrison, R. Henry P. Johnson, Mrs. Lee Johnson, W.L.McDaniel, Eber L. Palmer, Peter J. Salmon.
Recognizing a lack of sufficient experts, Father Carroll helped to organize the first conference on mobility restoration at his family's home near Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Speaking of this experience, Carroll said, "We recognized immediately our feeling of fright, insecurity, groping, and awkwardness.
[37][38] Prior to this, the Guild consisted of St. Raphael's Hall, which was primarily a safe haven for elderly blind women.
The name of the hall (as part of St. Paul's) was changed to St. Raphael's Geriatric Adjustment Center for the Blind and the Visually Handicapped.
[45][46][47] The Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind located in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, was created under the influence of Father Carroll.
This group included the people who had helped to develop Orientation and Mobility (O&M) training procedures for the visually impaired: Richard Hoover, Father Carroll, Frederick Jervis, and other practitioners and administrators.