Ohio State School for the Blind

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ohio State School for the Blind is a school located in Columbus, Ohio. It is run by the Ohio Department of Education for blind and visually impaired students across Ohio. It was established in 1837, making it the nation's first public school for the visually impaired.

The school was orgnially constructed in 1837 in downtown Columbus on Parsons Ave, now home to the Ohio Highway Patrol. In the mid 1950's it moved to its current location at 5220 N. High St on the ground of a defaulted golf course. Over its history it has seen a vast change in the its population and demographics, orgnially housing a majority of single disability student to now handeling almost 75% multi-handicaped people.

In the basement of the school sits a vast collection of models that were constructed and pruchased over time, these models were of various monuments around the US that blind students may not be able to see with their eyes but instead could examine with their hands. While the majority of the models were constructed of quality material there are some that have been negelected and damaged over the years.

In recent years a discussion has gained popularity about combining the school with its neighbor creating a single state funded school for both blind and deaf students. Camps from both sides have argued both for and against this idea as some say it will destroy each others way of life. Currently no definite answer has been given as to when or if this merger will occur.

[edit] External links