[Dtb-talk] [OT] Best schools for the Blind

Tue Nov 16 16:57:08 UTC 2010

If your goal is to learn more about how blindness education is handled in
large, low-density regions, I suggest you talk to folks in Texas or Alaska.
Both have regions of their states with small communities and need to find
solutions that work for their blind students. (California, Florida, New York
State might also have some similar experiences, but at higher total
population size, probably. Well, not higher total than Texas, but Texas has
some excellent staff at the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, so
I'd expect interesting answers from them.)

-Madeleine

On 11/16/10 10:43 AM, "Greg Kearney" <gkearney at gmail.com> wrote:

> Perhaps an explanation as to why we ask this question. Western Australia is
> the largest state in Australia it is about one third the size of the
> continental United States. The education of the blind has been a concern of
> ours particularly for children living in rural and isolated communities. And
> when I say isolated I mean it! Some of these communities are only reachable by
> light airplanes.
> 
> So I was asked to find out which are the best schools for the blind in various
> English speaking nations, what programs they have, how they might deal with
> the issues of children from isolated communities and how we might be able to
> use the best practices here given that there seems to be little choice but to
> bring the blind children into a central campus given the size of the state and
> the fact that we only have 2.5 million people living here. It is not
> reasonable to expect that mainstreaming will always work given the isolation
> that some of these children live in. Even non-disabled students are sent from
> these communities to boarding schools much of the time.
> 
> So we are just asking, which are the best school in your collective opinion
> just so we know where to start looking.
> 
> Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
> Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
> PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
> Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
> Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
> Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
> 
> On 16/11/2010, at 11:23 PM, Jim Barbour wrote:
> 
>> So Greg, I'm sure how we help here.
>> 
>> I suspect that we (those of us in the US) are pretty clear that there
>> are no "leading" schools for the blind.  That is, it would be rare
>> that I would point a blind child toward a school for the blind, as
>> opposed to a public or charter school with a teacher for the blind.
>> 
>> Typically, each state will have a school for the blind, and typically
>> these schools work with kids who have multiple disabilities where one
>> of them is blindness.
>> 
>> So, if what you are looking for is a brick and mortar school for the
>> blind, then you'll may as well talk to places like Perkins, The Hadley
>> School for the Blind, the California School for the Blind (I mention
>> this b/c I live in Ca).
>> 
>> If you are looking for a concentration of blind students, I'd consider
>> speaking with organizations of educators of blind children, or parents
>> of blind children.
>> 
>> I know this isn't what exactly what you wanted to hear, but I hope it
>> helps.
>> 
>> Jim
>> 
>> On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 10:02:39PM +0800, Greg earney wrote:
>>> We are only trying to try and find out which are the leading schools, not
>>> engage in a discussion as to the relative merits of dedicated schools and
>>> verses mainstreaming.
>>> 
>>> Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
>>> Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
>>> PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
>>> Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
>>> Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
>>> Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
>>> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> On 16/11/2010, at 9:41 PM, Mark J. Cadigan wrote:
>>> 
>>>> As a former student I can tell you that schools for the blind such as
>>>> Perkins have there place, but they are not for everyone.
>>>> 
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Kearney" <gkearney at gmail.com>
>>>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>;
>>>> <bardtalk at yahoogroups.com>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 5:53 AM
>>>> Subject: [Dtb-talk] [OT] Best schools for the Blind
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> I know that this is off topic of this list but I need to know what the
>>>>> best schools for the blind in the United States and Canada are. We have
>>>>> all heard of Perkins here but what are some of the other really
>>>>> outstanding schools there?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks for your input
>>>>> 
>>>>> Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
>>>>> Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
>>>>> PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA
>>>>> 6100
>>>>> Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
>>>>> Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
>>>>> Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
>>>>> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
>>>>> 
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m
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