Pupils who are defective in vision / a report of the Advisory Council on Education in Scotland.

  • Great Britain. Advisory Council on Education in Scotland
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pupils who are defective in vision / a report of the Advisory Council on Education in Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/72 page 14
    6. Changes in Incidence 33. In examining changes in incidence over a period of years when medical service including school medical services were improving, when new facilities for the education of the handicapped were being provided and when ophthalmic standards were not uniform, no detailed conclusions can be reached. The available statistics support the judgment that blindness in children has declined during the present century. Some relevant facts are summarized below. TABLE III Number of blind children in attendance at Scottish schools in | certain years. Year Number of Blind Pupils 1907 272 1927 290 1937 | 223 1947 164 During the period from 1907 to 1947 methods of ascertainment improved, and it may therefore be assumed that a decline in incidence occurred during these years. In an article by W. Robertson in the Health Bulletin issued by the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health for Scotland (January, 1948) a careful analysis is made of the incidence of blindness in the general population since 1919 and more particularly since 1930 when the Regional Certifying Clinics were established. The statistics refer to persons registered as blind. From these it appears that since 1931 incidence rates of the registered blind under the age of 16 have declined. 34. It is well known that because of developments in medical science certain diseases of the eye have been greatly reduced in frequency. This is notably true of ophthalmia neonatorum. ‘The view has even been expressed by some specialists that the effects of medical treatment are now approaching their limit and that soon the remaining diseases will be for the most part congenital. In the light of evidence and opinion it may safely be assumed that a further but not spectacular decline may be expected in the incidence of blindness among children of school age. It may indeed be said that changes in the numbers of blind children may in the future depend less on changes in incidence rate than on the rate of births. To that extent the problem of planning blind education may present no greater difficulty as far as enrolment is concerned than the problem of forecasting the general school population. We consider that, subject to changes in the -general birth-rate, any future plan for the education of blind children should be based on the assumption that only a slight decline will occur in their numbers. : CHAPTER 4 THE NEEDS AND INTERESTS OF THE BLIND 1. Needs of Blind and Sighted Children 35. Justice will not be done to the blind if their special disabilities are allowed. to obscure the wants and interests that they share with their sighted fellows. The techniques and skills employed in the education of the blind are important, but
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