In early February of 1925, the American Foundation
for the Blind brought author, activist and lecturer
Helen Keller to advocate
on behalf of the blind community in Iowa.
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Miss Keller, her teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy,
and Charles B. Hayes,
the director of the American Foundation
for the Blind, appeared
before the legislature on behalf of a bill
introduced by Iowa Senator White of Tama County.
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The bill would create a state committee
to supervise in training and educating Iowa's blind.
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And on April 2nd, 1925,
the Iowa Commission for the Blind was established.
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It was a continued step in helping Iowa's blind
community achieve equality through
employment and education.
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But the establishment of the commission
was just a small part of Iowa's history
in providing equal education for the blind.
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I was born in Carroll, and
they really don't know the cause of my blindness.
My eyes simply didn't develop.
They told my parents at the hospital,
they told them about a school in Vinton for blind children.
They came to our very remote farm
in western Iowa and established contact.
And shortly after that, when I was two and a half,
my parents decided to move to Vinton.
This was the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School,
originally known as the Iowa College for the Blind.
The school was different
from a typical institution
at the time because students
took up residency and lived in Vinton most of the year.
A formal school for Iowa's
blind has its origins in Massachusetts.
Prior to the 19th century, few efforts were made to help
improve the welfare
and condition of the blind in the United States.
And for many people with visual impairments,
the barriers often restricted educational opportunities.
But starting in the early 1800s,
socially progressive movements began to take hold.
In March of 1829,
the New England Asylum for the Blind would open.
It would later be called the Perkins School,
and it was the first of its kind in the country.
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Soon after, institutions began
to pop up all over the country and in the mid-19th century.
Iowa's School for the Blind would be established.
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Actually, it was founded in 1852, initially in Keokuk.
And a man named Samuel Bacon began the school in his home.
One year later, it was moved to Iowa City, where it
changed locations two or three times,
different houses there as it grew.
And then in 1862 this site in Vinton opened.
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Students not only learned technical
and vocational skills,
but also took part in a wide ranging, rigorous curriculum.
Braille literature, civil government,
political economics, plane and solid geometry and botany.
But that the curriculum was a
very high standard. Extremely.
Students typically came from
Iowa, but blind persons
from other Midwestern states attended as well,
including the school's most famous resident, Mary Ingalls.
Mary's sister, Laura,
would document her family's story in the
Little House on the Prairie series of books.
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I didn't realize how large
the population actually was in the early 1900s.
It was well over 200 students.
But I know that when I was a student and
even years prior to that,
we had one of the largest libraries for the blind
in the country. And Iowa has always been a leader.
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After the passage of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act of 1975,
changes were made to laws with
how blind children would be educated throughout the state.
Eventually, enrollment at the school declined,
and after 159 years, the school ended operation
as a residential institution in 2011.
♪♪
While the Iowa Braille and
Sight Saving School
no longer operates,
the institution's impact is far reaching
for its former students and the state of Iowa.
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I guess I would say that
Iowa can be extremely proud
of what the legislature allowed the school
to be in its best days, which I would say
were from the time it opened through the 1980s,
we were right up there with the Perkins
School for the Blind.
Best school in the country, as far as I'm concerned.
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