Tom,
Though I'm not an educator, I can forsee many difficulties which a blind
person would encounter in teaching in a primary school setting.  The first
thing which comes to mind is the whole issue of acceptance and respect of
students, parents and staff.  A related issue is the ability to maintain
order and dicipline in the classroom.  How many weeks or months
would it take young kids to think of a blind person as more than an
oddity and an object of constant ridicule?

Moving on to the actual content of elementary ed, much of it is visual in
the early grades (handwriting, art, show and tell, etc.).

If I were a young person considering a profession, I'd want to pick
something where I felt reasonable comfortable that I could perform most of
the tasks requirede of the job.  While a blind person could work with yong
children is certain specialized areas such a tutoring or as a resource
teacher (say in music), my initial reaction is that most of the tasks
performed by a sighted teacher will be next to impossible for a blind
counterpart without an iniordinate amount of assistance.  Let's take an
obvious example.  Could a blind person monitor recess?

I'd love to be proven wrong, and if you find any leaving breathing
examples, please share them with the list.

73 Chris W1gm