Towards Modern Care and Education for Persons with visual Impairments in Poland: Elżbieta Róża Czacka (1876-1961) and Her Contribution to the Development of Typhlology-Religious Inspirations.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to show the relationship between spirituality and the development of modern typhlology focused on supporting people with visual impairments. The text presents the silhouette of Mother Rose Czacka, the sources of her Catholic spirituality and the development of typhlological thought related to her, as well as Dzieło Lasek, which is an emanation of these relationships. The aim of this study is to show the relationship between spirituality and the development of modern typhlology focused on supporting people with visual impairments. These relationships are reflected in the activity of Blessed Rose Czacka (1876-1961) that focused on developing a model of education and care for people with visual impairments in Poland in the first half of the twentieth century. Her religious motivations related to the establishment of the Franciscan Congregation of the Servants of the Cross were closely related to her development of the scientific and organisational foundations for the system of support for people with visual impairments in Poland at that time. The comprehensive support centre established by her, which comprised education and care for people with visual impairments in Poland in 1910 called Dzieło Lasek [eng. The work of Laski], was a pioneer, and the methods of work developed in this facility have been improved over time and provide the basis of the activities of the centre to this day. This is a great example of a religiously inspired work to help people with disabilities. The text presents the silhouette of Mother Rose Czacka, the sources of her Catholic spirituality and the development of typhlological thought related to her, as well as Dzieło Lasek, which is an emanation of these relationships. The text uses desk research analysis, focusing on existing written materials and the analysis of texts devoted to the reception of Róza Czacka`s work. The main limitation of the study is a limited number of resources, restricted mainly to texts written in Polish. The theoretical assumptions and solutions proposed by Róża Czacka, despite her numerous connections with the European pedagogical thought of the first half of the twentieth century, have been scarcely discussed. On the other hand, Dzieło Lasek grew up in a specific cultural and historical context and the generalisation of the proposed solutions encounters specific limitations resulting from this fact. The text depicts examples of activities that benefit persons with visual impairments and are underpinned by religious motivations. Desk research analysis helped to describe the pioneering activity in Poland of Róża Elżbieta Czacka (1876-1961), a member of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Servants of the Cross, a blessed of the Roman Catholic Church. As a precursor of Polish typhlology, Mother Czacka is the foundress of the Work of Laski, a comprehensive centre for the support and education of blind persons in operation until today. Róża Czacka's personal sight-loss experience and her profound spirituality that saw work with blind persons as a service to the Gospel, in combination with commitment and the ability to focus communities on major social problems, were the root cause of the empathetic support offered to blind persons.