Do deaf or blind (or both) people get enough help and funding with extended education in Europe or USA?

Question

Are they soley reliant on charitable organisations? Or do many countries governments pull their fingers out to create good educational systems and train/educate teachers to help these people?

Answer 1

My answer relates to the UK.  There is a whole raft of legislation in place, passed by Parliament to deal with children who have special educational needs & to prevent them from being discriminated against.  

Charities like the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) or Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) have schools/colleges in the UK, places are usually funded by the Council where the student lives, depending on the age of the student by either the education department or social services.  They also provide services to primary or secondary schools, funded by the local council.  

In the borough I work for there is a dedicated school for the deaf, which has units based at a mainstream primary and a mainstream secondary school.  For visually impaired children the specialist services of the RNIB are bought in to advise & train the necessary personnel in schools, if necessary a placement at a special school can be sought.  Other neighbouring boroughs also have special schools or specialist units attached to mainstream schools dedicated to the visually impaired or hearing impaired.

There are wide variety of services and educational opportunities available to children/students with hearing & visual impairments from both charities and local councils.  If you need information on the services in your area, you should call your local council and ask to speak to the special educational needs section, or additional educational needs section if they have one.

Answer 2

In England:

Extended education? What do you mean? Do you mean if they choose to join clubs/societies or if they want to go on to higher education?

If higher education then the government does allow for grants and funding  through equality and SEN legislations as well as The UN committee on the Rights of The Child.

For clubs and societies there are various charities that will support children and the clubs to ensure that they have facilities etc to include all children.

Answer 3

im guessing americans get sod all help, scandinavians get the most help, and the rest of europe is somewhere in the middle

Answer 4

Where I live yes.

The American school for the deaf is in my state, so they do really well. Later on in my HS career we had a guy in my grade that came from there and they had an interpreter for him and everything. They are treated very well