Perkins School for the Blind

Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts is one of the oldest and most prominent schools for the blind in the United States.

History

The school is named in honor of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, a wealthy and visually-impaired 19th century Boston shipping merchant, who was one of the organization's incorporators. In 1833 the school outgrew the Pleasant Street house of the father of its founder Samuel Gridley Howe (husband of Julia Ward Howe, the composer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"), and Perkins donated his Pearl Street mansion as the school's second home. In 1839 Perkins sold the mansion and donated the proceeds. This gift allowed the purchase of a more spacious building in South Boston. In 1885, six acres were purchased in the Hyde Square section of Jamaica Plain to build a kindergarten. This property was the home for a time of the young Helen Keller as well as the home of Laura Bridgman . The school moved to its present Watertown campus in the autumn of 1912.

Dickens visited Perkins in 1842 during a lecture tour of America and was amazed at the work Howe was doing with Laura Bridgman, a young deafblind girl who came to the school in 1837. So impressed was Dickens that he wrote about his visit in his book, American Notes. Years later, Kate Adams Keller, mother of a young deafblind girl named Helen, read the book. The book provided a ray of hope for the couple's six-year-old daughter, Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing when she was only 19 months old.

In 1887, Perkins Director Michael Anagnos sent graduate Anne Sullivan to teach Helen Keller in Alabama. That same year, the school established the first kindergarten for the blind in the United States. After working with her pupil at home, Ms. Sullivan returned to Perkins with Helen Keller in 1888 and remained there until 1893.

A popular addition to Perkins in 1931 was the creation of the Braille and Talking Book Library. For adults and children who cannot read conventional print but don't want to miss out on the latest bestseller or copy of Newsweek, more than 50,000 recorded titles and magazines and 16,000 braille books are available. The library offers a mail order service in addition to regular checkout service.

Another breakthrough came when David Abraham successfully produced the first Perkins Brailler in 1951 after years of experimentation. By 1977, about 100,000 Perkins Braillers were produced and distributed worldwide. In October of 2008, Perkins unveiled the Next Generation Perkins Brailler, a lighter, more portable, and easier to use version of the most widely-used braille writing machine in the world.

As the school evolved, so did the population. Perkins changed its charter in 1982 to accept students with multiple disabilities other than blindness. A major grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 1989 made it possible to expand Perkins' services throughout the U.S. and in 50 developing countries through Perkins' International Programs.

The School's reputation for innovation never tires. Perkins launched its Outreach: Services to Elders Program in 1991 to assist the growing population of seniors who are losing or have lost their eyesight. The school has also introduced other programs such as its Infant/Toddler Program, Diagnostic Evaluations and Satellite Programs in order to assist more people who are blind, deafblind or living with multiple disabilities, and their families and caregivers. [Perkins History Museum]

Further reading

*"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. The Diary of Bess Brennan"

References

*French, Kimberly. "Perkins School for the Blind: The Campus History Series". Perkins School for the Blind, 2004.

ee also

* Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library

External links

* [http://www.perkins.org/ Official website]
* [http://perkins.org/oncampus/preschool/ Perkins Preschool]
* [http://perkins.org/oncampus/lowerschool/ Perkins Lower School]