Although the phenomenon of blindness has existed since the dawn of humanity, it was only during the 18th century that educators began to be convinced that the use of unique educational methods could significantly improve the ability of blind people to function.
The biggest single advance in education of the Blind is credited to Louis Braille, a blind French student, who in 1824 developed for the first time a system that allowed blind people to read.
Until the 1970s, most blind children in developed countries studied in institutes designated exclusively for the blind. Since the beginning of the 21st century, blind children are in most cases entitled to study in ordinary schools, with equal rights and obligations to children with normal vision (according to the Israeli Ministry of Education, each child is entitled to study in a regular classroom in the area where he or she lives). This change of approach occurred both because of the growing understanding that blind children have equal rights to children with normal vision, and due to technological innovations that made it possible to teach the visually impaired in standard schools.
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