Blindness and education

These institutions provided simple vocational and adaptive training, as well as grounding in academic subjects offered through alternative formats.

The Ancient Egyptians were the first civilisation to display an interest in the causes and cures for disabilities and during some periods blind people are recorded as representing a substantial portion of the poets and musicians in society.

[2] An early institution for the blind was the Hospital Royal des Quinze Vingts established by the French monarch for soldiers who had lost their sight.

He made rapid progress, and Haüy announced the success, in September 1784 in the Journal de Paris, then receiving encouragement from the French Academy of Sciences.

In 1889 the Edgerton Commission published a report that recommended that the blind should receive compulsory education from the age of 5–16 years.

Though New York Point was widely accepted for a time, Braille has since emerged the victor in what some blindness historians have dubbed "the War of the Dots".

While some of their methods seem archaic by today's standards - particularly where their Vocational Training options are concerned - their efforts did pave the way for the education and integration of blind students in the 20th century.

The early 20th century saw a handful of blind students enrolled in their neighborhood schools, with special educational supports.

Most still attended residential institutions, but that number dropped steadily as the years wore on - especially after the white cane was adopted into common use as a mobility tool and symbol of blindness in the 1930s.

The bank records the study curriculum in 12 languages like English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, and Sanskrit by the people who are well versed in their own mother tongue.

To date, the recorded CDs have made a difference in the lives of blind people in almost 26 states of India and a few regions of neighbouring Pakistan too.

Since only ten percent of those registered as legally blind have no usable vision, many students are also taught to use their remaining sight to maximum effect, so that some read print (with or without optical aids) and travel without canes.