Over an 18 month period centred on 1993 a major survey was undertaken to investigate the condition of blind and visually impaired (Vl) children and young adults (0-25 years) in East and West Sussex. Its brief was to ascertain the Educational Needs of the surveyed group with a view to addressing some of these with funding from the Blatchington Court Trust which com missioned the work. Accordingly the brief included recommendations on how funding might be apportioned and utilised in the medium-term. In many ways this was a 'first of its kind' and, as such, is worth recording to aid in the undertaking of future works of similarly ambitious complexity, depth and breadth. The survey's Director Gill MacDonagh reports on its methodology as a preface to two major articles on the contents of the survey.
