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Genevieve Caulfield
Name of a blind American teacher, who on 12
January 1939 founded the School for
the Blind, which is today
managed by the Foundation for the Blind under the Royal Patronage of
Queen
Sirikit Kitthiyagon.
It was the first school for the blind in Southeast Asia and was in part funded
by Genevieve
Caulfield's own savings. It was initially located in a small house near Sala Daeng.
In 1947, four Salesians Sisters joined the teaching program, and besides the
additional teachers, also the position of a school manager and headmaster were
installed. In 1949, the
Phibun Songkram
government gave permission for the lease of a +8
rai
plot of royal
land located at Thung Phaya Thai (ทุ่งพญาไท), which resulted in the school's
move to its present location. In 1960,
the School for the Blind received official
recognition and on 2 August 1977, it changed its name to Bangkok School for the
Blind, in Thai called Rohng Rian Son Khon Tah Bot
Krung Thep
(โรงเรียนสอนคนตาบอดกรุงเทพ).
Genevieve Caulfield was born
on 8 May 1888 and passed away in Bangkok on 12 December 1972.
In recognition of her work
for the blind, especially in
Thailand, Vietnam and Japan,
Genevieve Caulfield
received several
awards, as well as a statue made by the sculptor Misiam Yipinsoi (มีเซียม
ยิบอินซอย), that was inaugurated by the former premier Field Marshal Thanom
Kittikachorn (ถนอม
กิตติขจร), on 12 December
1983, 11 years after her death. She is also remembered on a Thai postage stamp issued in 2009 to
commemorate her work and mark the 37th
anniversary of her demise (fig.).
In 1979, Queen Sirikit opened Thailand's first Garden for the Sight Impaired (map
-
fig.),
which is also known as the Garden for the Blind, within a section of the Sirikit
Park, itself adjacent to
Chatuchak Park (map
-
fig.).
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