Library Collections: Document: Full Text


As I Saw It

Creator: Robert Irwin (author)
Date: 1955
Publisher: American Foundation for the Blind
Source: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc., M. C. Migel Library
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2

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When the blind children have completed high school work or when they have reached working age and high school training does not seem indicated, the school authorities should plan and supervise their further instruction. In some cases the young blind are encouraged to attend a university, in other cases they are assigned to the state vocational rehabilitation department for vocational training and placement.

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Individual blind people of special ability, whether with or without tutors, have managed to make their way through institutions of higher learning. In the late 1890's a movement was on foot, originating in the state of Missouri, to establish a special college for the blind or special national scholarships for blind college students so that they might be helped to attend the university of their choice. This movement never found much favor, however, because experience had already shown that when a blind college student is provided with an adequate reading service and where the college authorities are willing to make reasonable adaptations of courses involving laboratory work, etc., the blind student does very well and manages to keep pace with his seeing associates.

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This broadens the educational opportunities for blind people far beyond anything that would likely be offered by a special college for the blind. Furthermore, no college for the blind would ever win the prestige of a large university. A degree from a college for the blind would probably mean very little to the blind man seeking a job where college training is a prerequisite.

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An effort was also made by blind people during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century to obtain federal government scholarships for the blind. This effort failed, however, because of the opposition of prominent superintendents of schools for the blind who seemed to feel that such scholarships were unnecessary or undesirable.

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As a new approach to the subject Newell Perry, a graduate of the California School for the Blind and a student at Columbia University, was responsible for getting the state of New York, in 1907, to set up reading scholarships for blind college students. These scholarships, administered by the State Board of Regents, provided blind people with an annual allowance for meeting the cost of reading service in the colleges and universities of the state and under certain conditions outside of the state. The annual allowance to a student for this purpose was only $300.00 in the beginning but this has gradually been increased over the years until in 1950 it was $500.00. Other states have copied this provision in one form or another until eighteen states now have such scholarships ranging from $200.00 to $900.00 maximum annual allowance. In some states it is for meeting the cost of readers only, in others it is for meeting the cost of readers plus living expenses. In some states the scholarship is only allowed a student attending a university providing the university admits him free of tuition charges. Most universities cooperate with blind students after the management understands that they are usually able to do the work required of seeing students without unreasonable special concessions.

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Most professional schools are open to the blind. As a result a goodly number of blind people have attained success in the profession of law, in teaching, as ministers of the Gospel, etc. Some professional fields have offered special difficulties. At one time schools of osteopathy were especially sympathetic to blind students, but unfortunately the opposition of examining boards in certain states gradually closed such schools to the blind. The Board of Regents in New York and the examining board in Pennsylvania even refused to recognize a degree for anyone graduating from a school of osteopathy which permitted a blind person to graduate. The opposition of these boards was usually due to the prejudice of some outstanding person on the board who did not believe that a blind person could successfully practice osteopathy. As the schools of osteopathy are private establishments and in no position to fight the examining boards or boards of regents, they succumbed to this opposition. One school of osteopathy after another was closed to the blind until today there is practically no opportunity for blind people to equip themselves to practice the profession even though some of these schools for many years have had blind people on their faculties.

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Blind people have also had much difficulty in obtaining training as physiotherapists. This has been largely due to the opposition of the physiotherapists' association. Had it not been for the strong public opinion behind certain blind veterans, all schools of physiotherapy would probably have followed the examples of the schools of osteopathy and closed their doors to the blind. In Great Britain the National Institute for the Blind has established a school of physiotherapy offering an excellent three-year training course. The faculty of this school contains some of the leading physicians of London and unlike the situation in the United States, blind physiotherapists in Great Britain stand well with the medical profession.

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