Share this:
13th century
| 1234 | The founding of Maison Dieu in Faversham, Kent |
| 1260 | Hospice des Quinze-Vingts, a hospital for the blind is opened in Paris |
| 1326 | Georghospital in Germany includes a ‘madhouse’ |
| 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. |
16th century
| 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. |
17th century
| 1601 | Poor Law Act in England |
| 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. |
18th century
| 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’.
19th century
| 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. |
| 1825 | Braille invented. |
| 1827 | Glasgow Blind School. |
| 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’. |
| 1845 | Lunatics Act. |
| 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. |
| 1886 | Idiot’s Act separate act for ‘Idiots and imbeciles” (people with learning disabilities) |
| 1887 | Sharp Memorial School for the Blind in Dehradun, India is the first blind schoo in the country. |
| 1890 | British Deaf Association founded |
| 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. |
20th century
| 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. |
| 1950 | Buigiri School for the Blind Tanzania. First blind school in Tanzania |
| 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. |
| 1973 | Rehabilitation Act, USA protection from discrimination |
| 1975 | UN Declaration of the Rights of Disabled Persons calls for full economic and social integration of disabled people |
| 1976 | Education Act, England and Wales: Aim was to push more integration and provision within mainstream education |
| 1976 | Grove Road housing scheme, Sutton-in-Ashfield. |
| 1976 | Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation set up – the first organisation to argue for a ‘social model of disability’ |
| 1978 | National Council on Disability founded USA. |
| 1981 | Care in the Community green paper in the UK signalled end of asylums |
| 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. |
| 1986 | Southern African Federation of Disabled People (SAFOD) includes 10 southern african countries |
| 1986 | Madrassa An-Noor for the Blind, Malawi. First Muslim school for the blind |
| 1990 | Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), USA |
| 1991 | Disability Living Allowance introduced, UK |
| 1991 | Law of the Protection of the Rights of the Disabled, China |
| 1992 | Disability Discrimination Act, Australia |
| 1995 | Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) made discrimination against disabled people illegal |
| 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). |
21st century
| 2006 | UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Members agree to provide equal rights and root out discrimination. |
| 2007 | Mental Health Act. |
| 2016 | School for disabled and blind people opened in Kobane, Syria. |