It’s Black History Month, and we’re celebrating Black trailblazers in the disability rights community. Bessie Blount Griffin (1914-2009) was an innovator and disability advocate; she was primarily credited for making the first form of assistive technology for soldiers in World War II whose wounds prevented them from being able to feed themselves. With this technological advancement, she paved the way for more advancements in the future. 

Even after her marriage, Bessie Blount Griffin continued to practice professionally as Bessie Blount. She was a licensed physiotherapist who greatly improved the lives of patients with disabilities at Bronx Hospital. There, she came up with creative solutions to help patients with significant physical impairments continue to communicate, including devices that allowed them to write with their mouths or feet. She was fascinated with handwriting and later began to study Graphology—the analysis of handwriting for behavioral profiling. 

Bessie Blount would go on to obtain significant recognition in her field of Graphology. Being one of the few women of color in that profession at the time, she used her visibility and platform to increase Black representation in the field. Her assistive technology advancements were the first of their kind, and were instrumental in bringing greater independence to people around the world with physical disabilities.