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Howe had a philosophy of education of the blind. It was that the blind should no longer be "doomed to inequality," to becoming only "mere objects of pity" and he believed that blind children could learn as much as other children. He visited 15 states, getting schools started in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. He also created an embossed letter system for the blind to read, first known as Howe Type and later as Boston Line Type. It was used at Perkins until it came into common usage at the turn of the century. Some may say that his biggest success was in educating Laura Bridgman, a girl who became deaf-blind from scarlet fever at the age of two proved it was possible to teach children with disabilitys. His interest in promoting the education of children with disabilities wasn't only for the blind and deaf-blind. He also helped to start schools for mentally retarded children and deaf children. because of this, Howe has been called the most significant figure in the American history of special education.
Before they could open the school, Howe had to see what a school for the blind would be like because it would be the first school for blind people in the U.S. He went to Europe to observe the schools ,obtain educational aids and appliances, and hire two teachers to assist him. Howe noticed that the schools in Europe were overprotecting their students and treating them as objects of charity. He didn't like this and was determined to avoid it. The New England Asylum for the Blind opened in his (Howe's) father's house and within a month the enrollment had reached six students, ranging in age from six to twenty years old. The school needed a bigger building so one of the schools trustees named Thomas H. Perkins, a wealthy Bostonian offered his house. In 1839, The school moved again to the Mt. Washington House Hotel in South Boston and changed its name to the Perkins Institution for the Blind.
Samuel Gridley Howe was born November 10, 1801 to Joseph Neals Howe and Patty Gridley in Boston, Massachusetts. He went to Boston Latin School and was basically bulled and had no pleasant memory of his school days. In 1818, he went to Brown University and graduated in 1821 then graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1824. Shortly after he went to be a battlefield surgeon from 1825-1830 in the Greek War of Independence. He went back to Boston in 1831 and shortly after his return, an old friend from Brown University, Dr. John Dix Fisher offered Howe the directorship at the New England Asylum for the Blind. Even though the school had no students and no building, he agreed.