Historical Perspectives on Working with VI Students

1. Historical Perspectives on Working with VI Students

2. From ancient times, people have been fascinated and curious about blind people. Unfortunately, some sighted people have also been cruel and terrified. Two examples from ancient times spring to mind.

3. France was the birthplace of education of blind children in the 18th century. • Its patron was Valentine Hauy, who was motivated to establish an “institution” for the blind by this experience: • “One night in a café he saw a troupe of blind men in grotesque costumes performing a skit which elicited pity and ridicule from the audience.”

4. Hauy’s primary objective was to teach the blind something “useful” and skills that would make them more socially acceptable. • He used his students extensively to raise money for his institute.

5. The Importance of Brl • A critical development in the field of visual impairment was the development and acceptance of Braille as the dominant reading and writing media. • Many tactile reading modes were employed and developed. • Some feel that education of students with visual impairments did not truly begin until a workable system was adopted. Braille began being adopted in mid 1800s. • The struggle to adopt of a single code/method lasted through the 1800s into the early 1900s.

6. Early Schools in the US • Three private schools funded almost simultaneously. • New England Asylum for the Blind (Perkins -- 1829) • New York Institution for the Blind (New York Institute for Special Education – 1831) • Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind (Overbrook – 1833) Local Schools –Texas School for the Blind (1856) Arkansas School for the Blind (1859)

8. Boarding schools were very fashionable in the early to mid 1800s. This made it perfectly logical for schools to sequester their students and even to recruit them avidly. • In the field, there were already rumblings about whether or not isolation from the mainstream was a good thing.

9. Physical Arrangements of Schools for the Blind • Dormitory • Cottage System • Partial mainstreaming into the local school district with a specialized VI resource room • Total mainstreaming into the local school district with a specialized VI resource room

10. Samuel Gridley Howe • Superintendent of Perkins School for the Blind. Was the head of the school for 44 years. • He supported the education of Laura Bridgman and developed the foundation of techniques for teaching students with deaf blindness.

11. Laura Bridgman • Laura Bridgman was the first totally deaf, totally blind student to be taught at Perkins. While she was able to repeat some things by rote, she always had limited communication ability.

12. Helen Keller • Helen and Ann Sullivan Macy were almost inseparable with Perkins. They had a long association with the students and administrators who lived there. • Helen gave sighted people the proof that the blind (and the deaf) were quite capable of doing anything that needed to be done.

13. 1900 - Frank Hall, Superintendent of the Illinois School for the Blind • In the Chicago schools started the first well organized, planned VI resource program. • The TVI’s name was John Curtis and when he was interviewed about the project, he noted that there were SOME problems with the model it did begin change. • Didn’t group students with all vision loss together • Did still practice some sight saving techniques but allowed print reading

14. Low Vision Students in the Public Schools • The pendulum swung very quickly away from residential education. • The director of Perkins, for example, maintained that low vision students tended to develop a sense of superiority over blind children. When they are returned to society, they are very likely to suffer extreme disappointment.

15. He also maintained that these students tended to loose patience with the rules that were necessary just for maintaining the safety of blind students. • Finally, he indicated that students with low vision resented the fact that they were asked for mobility help by blind students at the school.

16. New Techniques for the Field • Robert Irwin was the first director of the VI program for Cleveland schools. • In 1913 he developed what he thought would be a solution to the issues of the students with low vision. • Two classrooms were developed for the program. One had materials for students with low vision, and one had equipment for totally blind students.

17. Trials and Missteps • Students were not allowed to go into the room of the group they didn’t belong to. • Irwin also completed some research on the appropriate size of print for persons with low vision. He determined that 36 point was the optimum size. However, after he had studied the problem a bit more, he determined that 24 was the perfect size.

18. Blinded Veterans • After World War II, some attitudes held by society began to change. • Soldiers who had lost their eyesight in battle were streaming back into the country. • Suddenly almost everyone knew someone who was blind. • The veterans themselves were likely to be independent and demanding where training was concerned. • For example, this is when Hoover developed many of his cane techniques.

19. Blind and VI Students. . . • Blind and visually impaired students tended to benefit from this improved understanding of “the blind.” • A number of opportunities to explore the community were opened up for them as well.

20. An Epidemic of Blindness • Two infants in Boston were born in 1940. • They had an eye condition that ophthalmologists had never seen. The condition lead to blindness. • In 1942, doctors named the disease Retrolental fibroplasia (RLF) • More than 10,000 children were eventually blinded by this condition. • In 1954, it was determined that the common practice of administration of oxygen to premature babies increased the prevalence of ROP, methods changed and the epidemic stopped.

21. Personnel Preparation • Essentially during the 1920s, there weren’t any. • Dr. Sam Ashford was the first person to hold a doctorate in vision in the nation. • He put together a training program at George Peabody in the 1950s. • In the 1960s more programs began to be established including San Francisco State—whose faculty included Georgie Lee Abel, Phil Hatlen, Sally Mangold, and Pete Wurtzberger.

22. Texas • Texas has had and continues to have a leadership role in the field of blindness • Braille Bill 1991– The landmark braille legislation that other states have copied • LMA • Term functional blindness rather than legal blindness • Teacher requirement of demonstration of braille proficiency • Braille must be equally considered to print as medium • Mandate that textbook publishers furnish electronic files “in a timely manner”