Credit - Courtesy of Historic England.
1377 Guild of blind beggars recorded in Padua, Italy. Regulates begging and organises pensions for elderly blind.
1403 Bethlem Hospital found in London.
1409 Humane treatment of patients in mental hospitals recorded in Spain at asylums such as Valencia, Seville, Valladolid, Palma Mallorca, Toledo.
1590 Training provided for blind people in Northern China. Lu K’un orders city officials to train blind people in music, storytelling and fortune-telling.
1670 Hotel des Invalides, Paris. Home and hospital for war veterans.
1680 Waichi Sugiyama opens acupuncture school for blind people in Japan.
1682 Royal Hospital Chelsea opens for poor, sick and disabled soldiers.
1704 The Royal Naval College, hospital for disabled seamen.
1713 Vagrancy acts allowed the detention of ‘lunaticks or mad persons’.
1749 Diderot’s ‘Essay on Blindness’ is published.
1755 Samuel Heinicke School for the Deaf is opened in Leipzing, Germany, the first in the world.
1756 Edward Rushton is born on November 13th.
1760 Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris, France. A school for the deaf.
1772 Liverpool workhouse opened on Brownlow Hill.
1784 Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, France. First school for the blind in the world.
1784 School for the Deaf opens in Rome, Italy.
1791 School for the Indigent Blind opens in Liverpool. Later the Warnock report uses this as a starting point for the special education of deaf and disabled children.
1792 Royal School for the Deaf opens in London (later moves to Margate).
1792 Liverpool Lunatic asylum opens.
1793 Royal Blind School, Edinburgh.
1793 Bristol School of Industry for the Blind.
1793 The Retreat, York. This psychiatric hospital had ‘no cells, no chains, no cold baths and no beatings’.
1797 Poussin and Pinel unshackled asylum patients in Paris, France.
1799 School for the Indigent Blind, London.
Schools founded in late 18th century and early 19th century are described as being ‘solely concerned to provide vocational training for future employment’ whereas schools founded towards the middle of the 19th century were more concerned to include a ‘genuinely educational element’.
1800 Liverpool Blind School moves to London Road, March 1st.
1804 The Blind Asylum, Glasgow.
1804 Imperial Royal Institute for the Education of the Blind, Vienna is the first blind school in Austria.
1805 The Asylum and School for the Indigent Blind, Norwich.
1806 Johann-August-Zeune-Schule für Blinde, Steglitz (near Berlin), has a museum which opened in 1891 – first blind school in Germany.
1807 Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory, Prague is the first blind school in Bohemia.
1808 The Institute for Educating the Blind, Amsterdam, now the Visio Center for Blind and Partially Sighted People is first blind school in Netherlands.
1809 Manillaskolan,Stockholm General Institute for Deaf and Blind was the first school in Sweden.
1809 School for the Blind, St Petersburg was the first school in Russia.
1810 Richmond Nat. Institution for the Industrious Blind, Dublin. First blind school in Ireland (Protestant).
1811 Royal Institute for the Blind, Copenhagen. First blind school in Denmark.
1812 First edition of newspaper ‘Russkii Invalid’ (‘Disabled Russian’). Published until 1917.
1812 Blind School in Aberdeen.
1814 Edward Rushton died November 22nd in Liverpool.
1815 Molyneux Asylum for Blind Females, Dublin, Ireland. (Catholic).
1816 Claremont Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Dublin, Ireland.
1816 Blind School in Brussels, the first in Belgium.
1817 American School for the Deaf, Hartford, CT .Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons.
1818 McLean Asylum for the Insane, MA, USA.
1818 Blind School in Naples, the first in Italy.
1819 Royal Blind School chapel opens, Liverpool, St Mary’s Chapel, Duncan Street.
1820 Blind school in Barcelona, Spain.
1820 Liverpool Institute for Curing Diseases of the Eye opens.
1824 Memoir of Edward Rushton written by William Shepherd.
1829 Perkins School for the Blind, Boston. First blind school in the USA.
1831 The New York Institution for the Blind.
1831 Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind, Belfast.
1832 Overbrook School for the Blind, Philadelphia PA, USA.
1833 Wilberforce School for the Blind, York.
1834 Poor Law Act.350 new workhouses built.
1834 Limerick Asylum for Blind Females.
1836 Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano (Milan Institute for the Blind), Italy.
1838 London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read.
1838 West of England Institute for the Blind, Exeter.
1838 Royal Victoria School for the Blind, Newcastle upon Tyne.
1839 Henshaw’s Blind Asylum, Manchester.
1840 Cork Blind and Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Ireland.
1841 Liverpool Catholic Blind Asylum.
1844 Precursor to American Psychiatric Association founded, known as ‘The Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane’.
1847 General Institution for the Blind, Birmingham. Offers industrial training as well as a general curriculum.
1849 Sheltered Workshop for the Blind, Boston MA, USA. Developed at the Perkins Institute.
1851 Liverpool School for the Indigent Blind, chapel is consecrated in new location Hope Street, May 25th.
1851 Liverpool School moves to Hardman Street, July 11th.
1858 American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Established to print books for blind people.
1860 Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, Sydney, Australia.
1866 College for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen, Worcester .
1868 Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) established. Founded as ‘British and Foreign Blind Association’.
1868 Normansfield Hospital was founded by John Langdon Down – a home for people with learning disabilities.
1868 Lebanese Evangelical School for the Blind, Lebanon. First blind school in the Middle East.
1870 Liverpool workshops for the outdoor blind opened in Cornwallis Street.
1870 Forster Education Act. England and Wales: School Boards were established to provide education where not enough voluntary places but no explicit provision for special needs. Some schools establish special classes for blind and deaf children on a voluntary basis.
1873 1st International Conference on Education of the Blind, Vienna.
1873 St Saviour’s Deaf Church founded at its first site in Central London (close to the eventual site of Selfridges).
1876 The Charity Organisation Society begins campaigning for blind children to receive education and for school boards to provide it.
1876 Elementary School for the Blind and Old People, Beijing, is the first in China.
1878 Kyoto School for Blind and Deaf is the first blind school in Japan.
1880 Tokyo School for the Deaf, Japan.
1886 Royal Commission on the Blind and Deaf , England and Wales: The Royal Commission reported in 1889 and advised compulsory education be provided for 5-16 year olds over 2 stages 5-12 then routed to technical or academic education, special boarding schools for those who are delicate, neglected or live far away.
1887 Sharp Memorial School for the Blind in Dehradun, India is the first blind schoo in the country.
1892 Chiswick House becomes an asylum.
1893 Elementary Education (Deaf and Blind) Act England and Wales: Education established as a right but not consistently implemented – generally happened in cities but not smaller areas. There was no control over voluntary schools until the Local Education Act of 1902.
1894 The Guild of the Brave Poor Things founded in Bristol.
1896 Committee on Defective and Epileptic Children. Education department established this committee to look at the education needs of the “feeble-minded and defective children” and how to differentiate between the educable and non-educable and provision for children with epilepsy. This is a useful source of information about early definitions.
1898 Committee on Defective and Epileptic Children reported. Recommendations not fully taken forward because determined too expensive.
1899 National League of the Blind and Disabled established as a Trade Union.
1899 Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, England and Wales. It offered better educational provision for ‘defective and epileptic’ children. The powers and responsibilities granted by this Act were slow to be taken up – only 133 out of 327 Local Authorities had done so within 10 years.
1899 Wavertree School opens, January 12th.
1902 Rehabilitation Act, England and Wales: This fundamentally altered the structure of education provision. School boards were abolished, a two-tier system was introduced, and a power to provider secondary education. for blind, deaf and defective children. This was the basis for special education until 1944.
1907 US Eugenics Sterilization Law, USA for ‘confirmed idiots, imbeciles and rapists’ in state institutions in 24 states.
1907 London County Council made provision for partially sighted children and by 1913 8 LAs were making similar provision.
1912 First Eugenics Congress, London. Attended by H G Wells and W Churchill.
1913 Fukui Prefectural School for the Blind, Japan.
1913 Mental Deficiency Act, UK. Requires school boards to segregate ‘mental defectives’.
1914 Elementary Education Act, UK. Says that ‘feeble-minded’ childdren must be sent to special schools.
1918 Sunshine nurseries, RNIB began nursery education for blind children with the establishment of Sunshine Home.
1920 Blind Persons Act, UK. Local authorities must ‘promote the welfare of blind persons’.
1921 Chorleywood College. Secondary school for girls established by RNIB.
1921 American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), USA.
1921 All-Russian Cooperative of Disabled People (VIKO) in Russia provides work and leisure opportunities for people with disabilities.
1925 All-Union Society of the Blind (AUSB) founded in Russia.
1926 All-Union Society of the Deaf (AUSD), Russia.
1927 St Petersburg Library for the Blind founded, Russia.
1927 UK Mental Deficiency Act.
1929 Wood Committee Report of the Mental Deficiency Committee England and Wales: Interestingly this committee pressed for closer association between mainstream and special needs education. The idea of stigma from separation was discussed.
1931 Demolition of School Chapel commences.
1931 Guide Dog Training opens, Wallasey.
1932 New extension on Liverpool School of the Indigent Blind’s Hardman Street site opens in place of the chapel.
1933 Philharmonic Hall Fire opposite Liverpool School.
1934 Board of Education Committee, UK. In 1934 the Board of Education Committee of Inquiry into Problems relating to Partially Sighted Children recommended that where possible these children should be educated in classes within ordinary schools and should not be taught alongside the blind. The Committee found that provision for 2,000 partially sighted children was being made in 37 schools and that a further 18 schools for the blind offered special education for the partially sighted. Nevertheless many partially sighted children were being educated as if they were blind (Gillard 2011).
1935 The League of the Physically Handicapped formed in NY, USA to protest against discrimination by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
1939 Nazi Euthanasia Programme in Germany murders 240,000 disabled people.
1939 Evacuation of the Wavertree and Hardman Street Schools for the Blind, UK to the former North Wales School for Blind Children in Rhyl.
1941 Education Green Paper (for after the war).
1944 Education Act, UK,England and Wales: Special education subsumed into general education responsibilities of Local Education Authority. Children with disabilities were to be educated within mainstream education were possible but in special schools where disabilities were serious. There was an obligation to established the needs of all disabled children, there was the creation of ‘Child Guidance Clinics’.
1944 Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, UK promised sheltered employment, reserved occupations, & employment quotas for disabled people.
1945 Handicapped Pupils and School Health Service Regulations, England and Wales: defined 11 categories of pupils. The regulations prescribed that blind, deaf, epileptic, physically handicapped and aphasic children were severely disabled and should be educated in special schools. Blind children should be educated in special boarding schools. The regulations also provided detailed guidance for the provision of education services.
1945 The Akropong School for the Blind, Ghana. First blind school in South Saharan Africa.
1946 National Health Services Act.Safeguarded the special education of children in hospital.
1946 Special Educational Treatment Pamphlet No.5, UK. This was guidance issued under the Handicapped pupils regulation set out above. It set out that blind children (around 1200) should be educated in special schools. More seriously affected partially sighted children should also be considered for special schools but others could be educated in mainstream or open schools.
1955 The Underwood Committee, UK. This committee was set up in 1950 and took 5 years to report, producing a report entitled “Report of the Committee on Maladjusted Children”. The report is not seen as “novel or revolutionary” and is noted mainly for its use of the term “maladjustment”. A quick scan suggests emphasis on definitions and service provision.
1957 Hardman Street School closes.
1959 Mental Health Act UK.
1960 First Paralympics held (in Rome).
1964 The Blind School in Kabul established, Afghanistan.
1968 First International Special Olympics Games.
1970 Education (Handicapped Children) Act, England and Wales: all handicapped children however serious the disability to be included in the framework of special education.
1970 Philippine National School for the Blind, Philippines.
1976 Grove Road housing scheme, Sutton-in-Ashfield.
1978 National Council on Disability founded USA.
1981 The Education Act paved the way for the integration of children with ‘special needs’.
1981 UN International Year of Disabled Persons.
1983 Mental Health Act, UK.
1984 Disabled People South Africa formed.
1998 Hibiki no Kai (Echo Society) Founded in Japan. Social group for blind people (founded because Japan doesn’t have equivalent to ADA or DDA).
2006 UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Members agree to provide equal rights and root out discrimination.
2016 School for disabled and blind people opened in Kobane, Syria.
Posts from members of the volunteer research and archive group in Liverpool.