Numbers that speak of the unseen: the educational level of the blind in the USSR (according to the All-Union Census of 1926)

The subject of the study is the educational level of the blind population in the USSR, recorded in the materials of the All-Union Census of 1926. The author's focus is on analyzing the literacy of the visually impaired as a key indicator of their integration into the social and cultural space of the state during a transformative era of political regime changes. The article examines the structural differentiation within the blind group, revealing the dependence of access to education on several factors: the nature of blindness (congenital or acquired), gender, type of settlement (urban or rural), and the geographical location of the region. The research allows for an assessment of the effectiveness of the educational policies of the Russian Empire and the early years of Soviet power concerning people with disabilities, as well as tracking how social origin and place of residence influenced the ability of visually impaired individuals to obtain education. The methodological basis of the research is an interdisciplinary approach that integrates methods of historical demography and historical informatics. The work is based on quantitative statistical analysis of census data and the use of GIS technologies (the "Axiom GIS 7" package) for the cartographic visualization of the obtained indicators, differentiated by gender, type of locality, and regions of the USSR. The scientific novelty of the study lies in its comprehensive analysis of the literacy level of the blind in the USSR based on representative data from the 1926 census. The work not only identifies absolute figures but also demonstrates their deep structural differentiation. It has been established that the literacy level among the visually impaired was low and significantly lagged behind the national average. The key factors that shaped the hierarchy of educational accessibility were the type of blindness, gender, and geographical location. The author argues that the most privileged position was held by blinded men in the capital and industrial centers of European Russia, while congenitally blind women from rural areas of the Asian part of the USSR were completely excluded from the educational process. The study introduces unique archival materials from the All-Russian Society of the Blind into academic circulation, which show how, against the backdrop of modest educational successes, an ideological campaign was formed to contrast the Soviet model of support with Western charity. The conclusions drawn open up prospects for further study of social policy concerning people with disabilities in historical dynamics.