Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham and the psychology of the blind child

Abstract

Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham (1891–1979) was a granddaughter of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of the jewellery empire, and a daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany, the artist. Despite her great wealth, she suffered from an unhappy marriage and emigrated to Europe seeking psychoanalysis for herself and her children. There, she became a lay psychoanalyst and a lifelong partner, both professional and personal, of Anna Freud (1895–1982). Burlingham founded a day nursery for blind children in London and wrote extensively on the psychological problems facing these children. She discussed an impaired ego development, a need to remain still (both for safety concerns and to better concentrate on their hearing), and complicated relations with their parents and their sighted peers. Her unusual life pathway led her to many important contributions to this field.