Perkins School and the visually impaired

The Perkins School for the Blind board of trustees voted Thursday to proceed with a $30 million renovate its 100-year old Lower School facility, including building a new schoolhouse. The project is intended to prepare Perkins students for the future and the new school is expected to give those young children a solid educational foundation.

Shawmut Design and Construction will be the construction manager for the project and Miller Dyer Spears is the architect.

Today, approximately 60 percent of all children who are blind have additional physical or cognitive challenges, according to Perkins Many use wheelchairs or walk with supports. Some need complex medical devices to manage their days. Most benefit from adaptive technology. The population of students with multiple disabilities is expected to grow in coming years, requiring more adaptable, accessible facilities. While the number of students at Perkins is not expected to increase, their needs will be greater

Perkins School for the Blind, the nation’s first school for the visually impaired, provides education and services to help build productive lives for more than 94,000 children and adults who are blind, deaf and blind or visually impaired with or without other disabilities in the U.S. and more than 63 countries worldwide.