Blind School

Establishing a school for the blind The first school for the blind opened up new doors for people with disabilities, including the fact that destructive, negative social attitudes about blindness slowly died out. It is reported that in many civilizations, blind babies were abandoned and left to die either from exposure to the elements or to be eaten by wild animals. Later, blind men were sold into slavery, and women into prostitution. Many others were used for amusement, but most blind people lived as beggars or kept by families.
It wasn’t until Valentin Hauy who was a well-dressed, respectable middle-class man, gave a young beggar some coins. As he watched the young beggar feel the raised markings on the coins, he realized there was a need to educate the blind. Valentin Hauy brought the lad into his own home to give him a place of shelter with food. He made wooden blocks with raised letters and numbers and educated the lad whose name was Francois. Through the success of teaching Francois, Valentin put his resources into the education of blind children. Furthermore, he developed a way for books to be printed with raised lettering in order to further educate the blind. Later on, Valentin established the first school for the blind, which was built in 1784, where Francois Leseuer became a teacher.
In the end, by the Middle Ages, civilized society particularly Europe, felt the need to care for the less fortunate. Alms house were built and used to care for the poor and disadvantaged including the blind. In 1784, the first school for the blind was established where the school was built in France, and before long numerous schools for the blind were established in England and throughout Europe. Destructive, negative social attitudes towards the blind slowly died out once the first school for the blind was established.