3. Deaf pioneers in the printing industry

According to legend, Eino Karilas, the deaf son of a priest, walked into the publishing house of the Finnish Literature Society in the spring 1904, pursuing an apprenticeship under a typesetter. The foreman of the publishing house was taken aback by such courage. At the time, the printing industry was highly valued and considered a demanding field, and the young deaf man’s chances of graduating as a typesetter were highly doubted. However, Karilas happened to have acquaintances in powerful positions who helped him achieve his goal.

Once the wall of prejudice was broken down, another deaf typesetting student, Antti Jokelainen, was also accepted into the same workplace. Both were very successful in their chosen careers, and Karilas has even been said to have composed doctoral dissertations and phonetic texts.

Oskar Wetzell played a significant role in the employment of deaf workers in the printing industry. After completing the school for the deaf in Porvoo, he became interested in bookbinding and applied for an apprenticeship at the Helsinki Central Printing House. After his apprenticeship, he worked there for almost 20 years, and he is said to have been very talented in his profession.

Soon after that, Wetzell established a bindery in his own home. This was easy, as it did not require any major investments or machinery. In 1927, Wetzell and his friend rented a larger space for the bindery on the upper floor of the Helsinki Association of the Deaf-Mute’s office building. Wetzell’s bindery had a good reputation, and the city library was one of its best customers. Eventually, Wetzell bought the bindery for himself. He also recruited deaf students to the bindery who received valuable vocational education under his guidance. Wetzell considered bindery work an excellent profession for the deaf.

In addition to the bindery, many customers also needed a printing house for printing their works, and Wetzell thought that setting up a deaf-operated printing house would provide a good solution to that. This is how the idea for the limited liability company Surdus was born. Unfortunately, Wetzell passed away before fulfilling this dream.

At the same time as Karilas, Jokelainen and Wetzell were receiving their education in printing, there were other deaf people who followed their example. Some also applied for higher education. One of them was Rurik Pitkänen, who graduated as a foreman and served on the board of Surdus for a long period of time.