Georgia Academy for the Blind

Thomas Ridgeway, a former professor and an alumnus of the school, stated that the folklore is that a mother in the Macon area made efforts to establish the school after her daughter survived an epidemic.

In 1851 a group of Georgians petitioned the legislature to have the school established.

[1] The Georgia Legislature spent $5,000 to establish the school, which opened in 1852.

[3] In 1990 there was a study headed by two employees of Gallaudet University that concluded that the Georgia Department of Education should do more to ensure more children were placed at Georgia Academy for the Blind and at the two other state schools for disabled children, Georgia School for the Deaf and Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, as all three were under-utilized.

[5] In 1990 the school had ages 4-21, with students numbering 170, and with about 33% having disabilities in other aspects.