The Blind Advantage: How Going Blind Made Me a Stronger Principal and How Including Children with Disabilities Made Our School Better for Everyone

Blind Advantage was a great book as a future teacher and for anyone to read. Not only did I learn how inclusion schools work and how beneficial they are for all students, but I also got to learn about Bill Henderson's amazing journey losing his eye sight and being a Principal for a school that is fully inclusive! I loved that he connects his challenges with the challenges of students and challenges of the school in each chapter. I got the privilege to meet Bill Henderson at URI and even went to Boston to visit the school; which was an amazing experience. The stories Bill Henderson talks about are so worth reading even if you are not a teacher or an administrator. This book is a real revelation for how someone's passion and determination can get them where ever they want to be.

I received this book as a gift and was so impressed with Bill Henderson's life and work that I purchased a copy from Amazon to give to a friend. Today's Public School educators work with children who face many challenges. The broad definition of "Least Restrictive Environment" for children with special needs has changed dramatically since I began teaching more than 25 years ago. As a veteran inclusion teacher, I was inspired to read Bill's account of the full-inclusion school that now bears his name. This is a must-read for all teachers. administrators, and parents who face similar challenges. It is a must-read for the politicians who vote to fund our schools.

This book is not very well written (there's a lot of lists), and slightly out of date in terms of what specific actions people have available to them for contributing to inclusive classrooms and schools (for example, mentions ABA, which is based in behaviorist theories of mind that cognitive psychology has replaced), but a short and sweet read nonetheless.

A powerful and compelling look at what it feels like to be disabled and how persistence and courage can lead to a successful and fulfilled life. The anecdotal accounts of specific special needs students will give teachers everywhere insight into the advantages of inclusion in the classroom, while providing specific strategies to overcome the many challenges they face. Everybody can relate to the human struggle to persevere and achieve, whether disabled or not.

Very interesting book about blind principal. I think only people that work in schools would really appreciate it though?

Great for college students

Great insight and inspiration for future educators!

This is a remarkable book, telling of a man who, upon being told he was going blind and should get out of education, instead forged ahead and became the principal of one of America's most amazing schools. The O'Hearn School, later renamed The Henderson Inclusion School in his honor, is a school that includes EVERYONE---students with any kind of special need, from mild to severe, from physical to mental to medical, and teaches them, along with their siblings and peers, to excellence. Dr. Henderson tells his story in this book, and includes many examples of how his own blindness and the varied abilities of his students lead to not a disadvantage, but an advantage, resulting in the O'Hearn being one of the highest achieving and most selected schools in Boston.I have been lucky enough to have three students attend the O'Hearn, and I can tell you that Dr. Henderson is a more amazing man than he gives himself credit for in these pages. He truly cares about every student, past or present, and every family he has worked with. He has the respect of all. And the work he started during the first 20 years of inclusion at the O'Hearn is being carried on by a new principal and the devoted and caring teachers and staff. But I don't recommend this book because I know Dr. Henderson, but rather because I'd like every educator to know him---to really understand what inclusion means. It meant my daughter, when she was diagnosed with autism, could attend the same school her older brothers did, and be truly included there. It meant my older son had the help he needed to be on track to start college in a year with a 4.0 GPA. It meant my middle son had a wonderful 8 years, from ages 3-11, with his friends, children with and without disabilities, and was helped to become the fine young man he is. If you are an administrator thinking of working to make your school inclusive, this book will surely inspire you.Thank you, Dr. Henderson, for all you have done, including writing this book to help others follow your path.