School for the blind, Campo de la Leña, A Coruña: the beginnings of specialist education in Galicia

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show the relevance of the school for the blind opened in A Coruña by the Presbyterian José María Salgado, in 1895. This school was one of the few establishments in Spain that was dedicated, to the education these students, in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. It also constitutes a signficant contribution to the history of specialist education in Galicia. The Salgado School was the second institution for the blind of Galicia and the second in the city of A Coruña. This study approached Specialist Education from an historic, descriptive and comparative perspective, is based on concrete archived sources, along with the Galician press and other relevant current and historic publications. The literature review carried out to develop this work found very few monographic studies on these schools inaugurated at the end of the 19th century. There are large gaps in the information. Although they are often overlooked, some of these establishments represented a milestone in the beginnings of the institutionalisation of specialist education.