History

The Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted was established in 1858. It was a continuation of a charity service started by the Logeordenen in 1811. In 1858 the Institute moved to a location in Østerbro in Copenhagen.

The students, male and female, were trained in general subjects followed by vocational training. The young ones could become shoemakers, rope makers, brush makers, basket makers or weavers. Musically bright students could have a professional training and become organists.

In 1898 a residential service was offered to blind children at the Refsnæs School in Kalundborg

In 1968 the Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted moved to Hellerup in Copenhagen, where the services for blind and partially sighted young and adults gradually were established.

In 1980 the national services for the disabled was decentralized in Denmark, but the Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted maintained its status as a national institution with countrywide services for the visually impaired.