Abstract
Although blind or visually impaired people do not yet enjoy the same full and equal status accorded most other members of the society, there have been noticeable changes with special reference to the past two centuries. In antiquity and even at present, especially in Africa, most blind people were ostracized or annihilated from society. The excuse was that blind people could not add any quota to the welfare of the community. This assumed conviction went unchallenged. The resultant effect of such unchallenged perception warranted harsh treatment meted out to the blind. The blind therefore became threatening object to the society.
As time elapsed, pity and compassion emerged from some benevolent groups such as the Church. This recognition brought about care for one another. Such care and concern were expressed in the institution of asylums or sheltered environments, based on the problem of food, clothing and housing. In consequence psychosocial, sociological and psychological dignity and worth of the blind appeared doubtful indeed. Both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brought a "breakthrough" for blind emancipation: where some blind elites demonstrated the contributions of the blind towards the betterment of their environment regardless the prevailing conditions. In this wise, blind individuals were centralized, trained and educated.
The nineteenth century, thus, paved the way for residential and segregated schools for the blind from their sighted peers. Vocational skills, alongside academic subjects, were taught in view of the development of specialized reading and writing systems coupled with extra adaptive aids. The twentieth century ushered in, the focusing of integrating the blind with their sighted counterparts in public schools. This enhanced competition through experiences and full potentials of the blind in contrast with their sighted peers. Objectively blindness is not a "birthright" (congenital) but an "omen" which can befall any individual at birth or in later life. "Education for All" must be our priority.
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