The Murder (Failure? Death? Demise? Decline? Deterioration? Destruction?) of Iowa Braille:

From Acclaim to Ruin in Less than Five Decades

How did this once great institution for the blind become what it is today, a mere shadow of its former self?

In the 1960s, The Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School was nationally recognized as the best institution of its kind, a true shining city on the hill in the area of work with blind children. Its population was typically 150 to 200 children in any particular year, educating students from Kindergarten through 12th grade.   Most of its graduates went on to lead lives of independence, supporting themselves and their families, using the skills and self-confidence gained while living at the school.  It was the model program, highly respected in its field. So, what went wrong?

In those days, the population of the school was comprised mostly of children whose only physical disability was blindness. Many were of average, or even above average, intelligence. Their primary problem was blindness, and the staff at the school was well-equipped to teach the students to cope with, and minimize the limitations that blindness posed, allowing them to go on to lead productive and independent lives.

However, in the early 1970s, students began leaving the institutional life, preferring to live with their families in their own communities.  The Library for the Blind in Des Moines was able to provide educational materials to support them in the public schools, and those students, using the mobility and Braille reading skills acquired at the Vinton facility, were able to function successfully, if not entirely equitably, in the public school environment. 

As news of this migration to the public school system spread, parents increasingly wanted to avoid the painful prospect of sending their small children away to a state institution.  So, young blind children started enrolling in public schools, mostly without the advantage of the basic training in blindness and blindness-related skills that the initial wave of migrating students had enjoyed, based on their early experiences at the Vinton school. This second wave of students did not fare as well in the public school environment. The parents of these students, most of whom had no realistic expectations of what a blind child should be able to achieve, did not recognize that their children were falling behind, and, sadly, the school at Vinton failed to effectively promote itself and the benefits it brought to the party. So The Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School saw a decline in population and in interest on the part of the parents of blind children around the state.

In response to this decline, the school administration during the mid- to late-seventies, rather than engaging in an aggressive campaign to make clear the training benefits it could provide, chose instead to open their doors to a wider population of blind students. This led to marked changes in the makeup of the student body, with a dramatic increase in the number of those who were multiply-handicapped. Yes, the new breed of student was blind but was also, very often, more severely intellectually challenged and beset with more serious physical, medical, and/or behavioral problems.  The only core requirement was that there be a visual disability.

This redefinition of admittance criteria was a strategic mistake that transformed the school from a true school for the blind to a school for the multiply handicapped. The new student was not one for whom blindness was the primary issue. For many, blindness was the least of their problems, and they would have been better served in an institution designed to meet the needs of those with mental and/or physical handicaps, rather than in an institution for the blind.

This demographic shift led to an even steeper decline in enrollment of the ordinary blind student. Consider the question:  If you were the parent of a normally intelligent child who just happened to be blind, would you enroll your child in a state institution where they would be lost in a sea of severely mentally challenged children?  What kind of peer influence and role models would your child encounter there? What sorts of experiences would they have? Naturally, the blind fled this institution in droves.  And why would they not? It was no longer a school for the blind.

Iowa has already lost its school for the blind.  It lost it years ago, and that beautiful old, historic campus is no longer the province of the blind.

What should have happened then, and what must happen now, if there is ever to be a rebirth of that fine institution, is to focus on building a proactive, positive program which aggressively and creatively targets the true problems of blindness…and does it with a laser beam.  It needs to be a program designed to teach basic living skills, mobility, Braille literacy, self-discipline, and justifiable self-confidence. It needs to be an institution designed to instill a sense of excellence and expectation in its students, and it needs to be run by people who know how to appropriately challenge the blind student, to guide and inspire their growth, to produce competitive and capable alumni, who will be revenue-positive, productive, tax-paying citizens fully able to support themselves, rather than simply living on the dole. These things are possible. It can still be done, but only if the bureaucrats who control such things have the good sense to realize that the conditions we find ourselves in now are the result of a series of failed policy decisions, and not the natural result of social evolution. 

Blind children in public schools are not being served well by the current system, nor can they be. Effectively addressing the underlying issues that prevent many blind people from achieving full self-support and independence is not something that can be done by a mere two or three hour visit a couple times a month from an itinerant teacher, nor by a set of parents to whom blindness is a new experience, nor by teachers in the public schools who, no matter how well-intended, do not have a realistic sense of how to challenge the blind student. They just don't have the specialized skill set required. Moreover, it is a lot more complicated than a simple matter of teaching skills. The journey from the dependence and isolation of early blindness, to full-fledged self-realization is a psychological journey, and a spiritual journey as well, that requires careful guidance, moment by moment, day by day. None of that can be achieved by the over-worked itinerant teacher. Who loses?  The blind student who, although they get to stay at home with their family, misses out on the opportunities that would have been available in a progressive, well-run, forward-thinking, true program for the blind.

Lastly, there is one thing that was found at the school for the blind in the old days that no public school environment, where you are the only blind student, can possibly provide. Peer influence.  Many blind students from the old days found themselves attempting, and happily accomplishing, things they didn't know they could do, not because some instructor pressed them to do so, but quite simply because Johnny down the hall was doing it. If he could do it, why not you?

The Vinton campus is a tremendous resource, because it is a place where the blind can stretch out and engage themselves, not just in computer skills or simplistic cane travel, but also in a wide variety of physical activities designed to teach confidence, mechanical aptitudes, athletic skills, and a whole wide range of skills and experiences not possible in the heart of a major city.  The Vinton community itself is a terrific and reasonably safe starting point, where students can learn the basics of navigating the community, and learn them well, before expanding out into more metropolitan environments.

Unemployment among today's adult blind is at a staggering ninety percent.  NINETY PERCENT!  And that figure was compiled prior to the economic down-turn.  At a time when discrimination is less of a problem than at any time in history, with information accessibility being better than it has ever been, how can that possibly be the case?  The answer?  Education.   Blind education is simply not producing the necessary results for success in our world today.  It's time to halt the decline.  It's time to try a fresh new approach.

A TRUE School for the Blind, a concept definitely long overdue!

Jim Snowbarger

Student of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, 1958-1969

Is our education important?

As a blind or visually impaired Iowan, I am bothered by the actions taken in the past decades to reduce the quality of education being offered to the blind and visually impaired children of this state.  How many parents of blind and visually impaired children know there is a school for the blind in Iowa?  How many public schools keep those kids in the school districts because of the funding they generate? 

The Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School has been serving the blind and visually impaired of Iowa since 1852.  The school has had several names that indicate the nature of the school, but the most famous was the Iowa College for the Blind from 1872 to 1929.  It was during this period 1882 to 1889 that Mary Ingalls attended the school.  The Iowa school has in the past been looked at as a leader in the education of the blind.  The school had the largest Braille and large print library in the country and was looked to as an example by other states. Today through main streaming and cuts in programming the school has lost its place in the field of education. 

Recently, alumni from the 1970's and 80's have had opportunities to associate with the blind and visually impaired of today.  At this gathering, alumni reminisce of their education at Iowa Braille and tell of happenings while students listen and ask questions.  Time after time we hear the same comments, “Gee, I wish I had known about the school.”  With this comment we follow up with a question of our own, “Didn’t you enjoy making friends in your school?” followed by their response of “what friends, I didn’t have any real friends.”  “What about all the opportunities of mixing or socializing with sighted peers or participating in marching band or school plays?”  Most answer, “We were in band but not really accepted. In marching band we walked with sighted partners carrying the bands banner or a flag. Standing as part of the scenery is not the same as what you have told us about your school.” 

Iowa Braille offered many activities to the students that would not have been available to them in the public schools, swimming, track and field, wrestling, cheer leading, and music contests.  Many of the sporting events held in the public schools cannot be adapted to allow the totally blind to take part.  Sports at Iowa Braille was tailored to meet the needs of the blind and visually impaired.  The track was setup with running wires along the straight-aways, long distance running was done with a partially sighted partner running in tandem. Wrestling was slightly altered to allow constant contact with the opponent.  Events such as goal ball and beeper ball were specifically designed for the blind.  The teams from the Iowa school would travel to surrounding states to compete in events with other blind and visually impaired people. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri each had teams.  Also, each sport had a larger tournament that would bring other teams to compete on a regional level. 

Recreational events offered many activities to the residential programming such as bike riding, swimming, bowling, and off campus activities such as camping and shopping.  Several times, special teams of students and staff competed against celebrity event teams such as the local television stations, KWWL, KCRG, and WMT/KGAN.  All events allowed the blind and visually impaired child to intermix with other children with similar disabilities to prove that they could overcome whatever fears they may have to better themselves. 

Educational programming at the school was top quality as the teachers were dedicated to the needs of the students at the school.  Class sizes were small, usually 8 to 10 students.  This allowed all to be assisted and needs addressed.  Over all the once proud school has been reduced to being administration for the state wide services for the blind, a program that keeps the blind and visually impaired in their home school district where their specific needs are only addressed by para educators and teachers of the blind and visually impaired who travel the state to spend time with the student on a weekly basis rather than allowing them to attend a school were the teachers are there every day working with the student throughout the school day.              

Those pushing for the closure of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School are throwing numbers around that refer to each student costing Iowans $250,000 to be educated on the campus.  What they are not telling anyone is that the numbers at the school are being reduced and forced to remain low by turning those wishing to attend away.  Parents no longer have the choice as parents. Instead, school district administration, Area Education Agencies, Department of Education and other educators force parents to remain in the home school district.  The system is closing the school to align with their beliefs not because the school is no longer needed. 

There are several national conferences for the blind held annually were it is clear that the current education system is overlooking the important needs of the blind and visually impaired.  No longer can young adults travel without the use of sighted guides or special assistants and no longer do those young adults read Braille or have proper social skills. Taxpayers are now forced to pay for adult education at special centers were young adults who are blind or visually impaired receive that training once thought to be so important to know as children.  Don’t believe the stories the educational system is telling you today because as blind and visually impaired experts we know the real truths.  

It is a shame that our education system has allowed this failure in education and that no matter how we protest the continued neglect of the true educational needs and potential of our blind and visually impaired.  Today it is the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School tomorrow it will be the Iowa School for the Deaf and then our local school districts as we allow those calling themselves experts in educational needs to continue downward trends in education.

Stephanie Hunolt

web master - rspangler@ibsssalumni.org

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