Blind children - integration or isolation?

In recent decades, blind children have typically attended ordinary schools. However, does this mean that they are better prepared to lead an integrated adult life? According to this study of blind children, this is far from certain.
The school makes sure the blind children have a support teacher to help them keep up with school work. However, having an adult by their side does not necessarily help the children in their social interaction with classmates, rather the opposite. Parents do a lot to help the children thrive. Nonetheless, blind children are increasingly distanced from their classmates and tend to find friends among other blind children.
Even though they only rarely spend time with their blind friends, they accept this. Integration into an ordinary school has given them an ambition not to live in the world of the blind, as they see many blind adults do. However, despite this ambition, this is where they seem to be headed.
The Danish Association of the Blind and the Ministry of the Interior and Social Affairs initiated the study, which has been financed with funds from the public pool of funds earmarked for disadvantaged groups. The study is a part of a project which also includes a study of blind adults.