Qualla: Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind: Introduction https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind/ Photo credit Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC0. When Joseph D. Tyler arrived in Staunton in 1839 as the first superintendent, the Virginia Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind - as it was then called - had no precedent in the state. The Virginia General Assembly had just decided that deaf and blind children in the Commonwealth deserved an education. Tyler's salary was twelve hundred dollars a year. He hired Job Turner, who would teach at the school for the next forty years. They built something from scratch: a residential program where students could learn Braille, sign language, vocational skills, and the academic subjects of the era. Nearly two centuries later, the school is still here, still on the same Staunton hillside, still teaching the children Virginia could not figure out how to teach anywhere else.

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Image: Ser Amantio di Nicolao | CC0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-wp/dnzc-virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind: A Frenchman from Bordeaux https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind/ Photo credit Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC0. J.C.M. Merrillat - a native of Bordeaux, France - arrived in 1851 as the first principal of the school's Blind Department. He took over as superintendent of both the Deaf and Blind departments the following year. His house, a few minutes from the school, was added to the National...

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Image: Ser Amantio di Nicolao | CC0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-wp/dnzc-virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-a-frenchman-from-bordeaux.mp3 0:06 2 full Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind: Desegregation, Slowly https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind/ Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare required Virginia to desegregate its deaf and blind schools in the early 1970s. The Commonwealth submitted a plan in 1974, and the federal government accepted it. In 1978 the state announced a $1.8 million capital improvement ...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-wp/dnzc-virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-desegregation-slowly.mp3 0:06 3 full Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind: What the School Teaches https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind/ Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. The Blind Department teaches Braille reading and writing, mobility and orientation, life and self-advocacy skills, and a full academic curriculum. Technology has reshaped much of what is possible - screen readers, refreshable Braille displays, audio textbooks - but the foundation...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-wp/dnzc-virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-what-the-school-teaches.mp3 0:06 4 full Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind: A Smaller School, a Stable Mission https://qualla.com/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind/ Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. After the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), local districts were required to educate students with disabilities in their own boundaries when possible. Enrollment at state schools like VSDB shifted as s...

Read more: Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind on Qualla

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/c/virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-wp/dnzc-virginia-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-a-smaller-school-a-stable-mission.mp3 0:06 5 full