Division on Visual Impairments

VIDBE-Q 62(4) Fall 2017

A quarterly newsletter from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments containing practitioner tips for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and other professionals.

Issue link: http://dvi.uberflip.com/i/913369

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 29 of 41

29 VIDBE - Q Volume 62 Issue 4 was well known for his knowledge of the woods, bi rds, animals, math and his skills in swimming and running. As an adult, he did not let his blindness slow him down with the activities in which he excelled as a child. When he was 15 years old, he entered the Institute for the Blind in Columbus, Ohio, wh ere he demonstrated his remarkable abilities in mathematics but objected to learning reading and writing. He later learned to read with the "point system" and advocated this strongly. In 1847, at only 24 years old, Mr. Bacon moved to Jacksonville, where he established the school for the blind in Illinois that opened in 1848. By 1852, Samuel Bacon was married to his wife, Sarah, and the moved their efforts to Iowa where a school for the blind was created there under his leadership. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon cal led Nebraska their home in 1874, and he quickly put forth his efforts to the Nebraska Legislative sessions until he succeeded in gaining an appropriation for yet another school for the blind. As stated in the Nebraska Legislature on February 19, 1875, as the law was passed: "Here shall be maintained in Nebraska City, in the county of Otoe, an Institution for the Blind. And there is hereby appropriated for that purpose the sum of $10,000, for erection of a building and furnishings of same. Provided that th e citizens of Nebraska City shall raise $3,000 and pay it to the Board of Trustees either in money or property. Said institution cannot be less than 10 acres and not to exceed one mile in distance from the courthouse." Following much controversy and publi c opposition, the citizens of Otoe County voted to raise the $3,000 for the institution.

Articles in this issue

view archives of Division on Visual Impairments - VIDBE-Q 62(4) Fall 2017