[mwcampbell]

And yet, blind kids must learn to integrate into the mainstream world. And schools for the blind are few and far between; at least in the US, they're typically residential (boarding) schools. One option, if it happens to be feasible in the OP's area, might be for the kid to attend a school for the blind early on, then move to a mainstream school later.

[ndarray]

Achieving integration & inclusion by putting severely disabled kids in normal schools is a fairy tale. Integrating into the world at large is a separate issue - you're not stuck with the same class throughout, you're not dependent on the same teachers. Arguably, you face some of those issues when you get a job but there's a much larger choice and the people around you are at least adults, in a hopefully professional environment. I just don't see the case for having to go through school as a definitive outsider and endure guaranteed bullying to somehow prepare you for the world better. Trauma doesn't prepare, it disables further. No idea where OP lives, alternatives will obviously depend on that and/or OP's ability move accordingly.

[mwcampbell]

Are you a blind person or a parent of a blind person? I'm inclined to give your position more weight if so. I'm legally blind (with some usable vision).

If we want disabled people to not be treated as outsiders, then it seems to me that disabled people need to be integrated into as many aspects of society as possible, including school, so that kids have disabled people as peers from as early an age as is practical. If some of us have to suffer the consequences of bullying or unfair treatment, then hopefully that's a temporary state, and the fact that more people have interacted with us from a young age is a step on the road to equality. Of course, the reason I can say that is that my experiences in mainstream schools were mild, in retrospect.

[Der_Einzige]

If blind communities are like some deaf communities, they may have a strong separatist bent which does indeed allow their child to avoid integrating with the rest of the world if they so choose. This is an option.

[mwcampbell]

The blind communities I'm involved in don't have any such separatist bent that I'm aware of. If anything, perhaps we go too far in insisting on assimilating into the mainstream.