THE WAY WE WERE: The genesis of training for specialist staff

Special training began in 1834 when the Indigent Blind Visiting Society was formed to conduct missionary work and relieve distress among blind people. At around the same time the Home Teaching Society was also founded in London. Prior to this, welfare-visiting and scripture-reading had been regarded as the appropriate form of intervention, carried out philanthropically by individuals with personal commitment rather than taught skills.