Seeing the Possibilities

Photograph by Charlie Westerman

When William A. Hadley lost his sight at age 55, he was saddened that so few educational opportunities existed for blind adults. Mr. Hadley, a high-school teacher, taught himself Braille, and five years later, in 1920, he opened the Hadley School for the Blind, in Winnetka, Ill.

Since then, more than 200,000 people in the United States and abroad have taken Hadley courses, which are offered free through the mail. The school covers all costs for students, including instruction and course materials. About one-third of its annual $4-million to $5-million budget is covered by donations. The rest comes from income earned on the investment of the school’s $64-million endowment.

The Hadley School still teaches Braille, but its course offerings also now include academic subjects, such as math and Latin, and a variety of classes intended to help people adjust to vision loss and live independently.

About one-quarter of Hadley students are not visually impaired, however. Some are educators learning how to better teach blind pupils. Others are learning Braille to better communicate with blind family members. And a growing number are parents of blind children turning to the school’s 16-year-old family program to learn about their kids’ physical, educational, and emotional needs.

Meredith MacGregor, of Richfield, Ohio, shown here with her grandson Evan, who has cerebral palsy and is blind, last year completed a Hadley course called Early Independence. The class teaches adults how to help blind children acquire skills, such as dressing and feeding themselves.