The goal of this project was to design a masterplan for an outdoor discovery trail on the grounds of the Indiana School for the Blind in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 62 acre site has not been developed for outdoor exploration and is virtually inaccessible due to extreme topographical changes in elevation on the site. Based on guidelines and recommendations recently proposed by the USDA Forest Service and the USDA Park Service for accessibility and interpretation, combined with site research by the author, the masterplan was conscientiously developed. The trail integrates the unique historic background of the site with the sites' diverse, natural features to create a handicapped accessible trail that is an educational and recreational experience for the Indiana School for the Blind campus community. / Department of Landscape Architecture

Indiana School for the Blind has a regular academic program fulfilling the state's requirements, but adjusted to blindness. Only educable children are admissable and when a child is judged to be unable to benefit from the program, he must be rejected for admission or readmission to the school. Many children retained in the school are making minimal gains due to unmet needs for psychotherapy or for a special program designed for retarded or neurologically damaged children. The present study involves three known groups of mentally handicapped blind children, (1) those who have been rejected for even a trial admission at Indiana School for the Blind because they are judged unable to benefit by an academic program, and (2) those granted a trial admission but rejected for readmission as unable to benefit by the program, and (3) those enrolled in the school but not being served adequately by the present program. The numbers of children in these groups will be presented and their characteristics will be described, in order to understand the types of specific programs needed for the education, training, or care of these children and of the assumed population of multi-handicapped blind children of which they are a part.