 The
Torah protected the deaf from being
cursed by others.
 Does not allow the Deaf to participate fully
in the rituals of the Temple.
 Property Rights were denied to Deafmutes.
 Plato:
All intelligence was present at birth.
 All people are born with perfect abstracts,
ideas and language in their minds and
required only time to demonstrate their
intelligence.
 Without speech there was no outward sign of
intelligence, so Deaf people must not be
capable of ideas or language
 Aristotle
 "Deaf
people could not be educated…
without hearing, people could not learn."
and those "born deaf become senseless
and incapable of reason.”
 Greek = perfect language
 Can’t speak Greek = Barbarians
 Deaf = barbarian.
 St.
Augustine
 Tells early Christians that deaf children are a
sign of God's anger at the sins of their
parents.
 Some people believed that if you were deaf,
it was a punishment from another life’s bad
actions.
 Dark
Ages - the early part of the Middle Ages:
Deaf adults objects of ridicule (court jesters)
Committed to asylums because of speech and
behavior thought to be possessed by demons.
 Middle Ages-“People born deaf could not have
faith, could not be saved and were barred from
churches"
 Must be able to "hear" the word of God Punishment from God.
Wait…What?
 Torah
= Protection
 Plato- Intelligence from birth. No Speech=No
Intelligence
 Aristotle "Deaf people could not be
educated… No Language = Barbaric
 St. Augustine- Deaf = Past Sins
 Dark Ages- Jester or Asylum
 Middle Ages- Couldn’t hear God’s word…
Cannot be saved.
Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy:
First physician to recognize the ability of the deaf to
reason.
 Juan Pablo Bonet :
An advocate of early sign language, to write the first
well-known book of manual alphabetic signs for the
deaf in 1620.
 Pedro Ponce de Leon, a Benedictine Monk :
Invent signs to circumvent "vow of silence".
To communicate necessary information, they develop
their own form of sign language.
These signs may have been used later in attempts to
teach Deaf children
Successfully teaches speech to people deaf since birth.

Settled by 200 immigrants from Kent County
England, an area known as "the Weald".
 Carried dominant and recessive genes for
deafness.
 By the mid-1700's a sign language (not ASL, it
was not invented yet) had developed on the
island, used by deaf and hearing islanders alike.

French Sign Language est. 1760
 Charles Michel De L'Eppe established the first free
public school for the Deaf.
 England 1760
• Thomas Braidwood opened first school for the deaf in
England.
 Germany 1777
• Arnoldi, a German pastor, believed education of the
deaf should begin as early as four years.
 Rome 1784
• Abba Silvestri opened first school for the deaf in Italy
in Rome.

First American Deaf School Founded
1817.
 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet & Laurent Clerc:

THG was an American that was interested in Deaf
Education. Travels to Europe and met Clerc. Both men
return to America and found:
American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.
(Original name was the Connecticut Asylum for the
Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb
Persons)
Soon, many teachers were trained in Hartford then
spread sign-based Deaf schools in New York,
Pennsylvania, Kentucky and many more places.

 1864
Gallaudet College opens (Thank you
President Lincoln!)
 National College for the Deaf and Dumb, it is
the only accredited facility for the deaf in
the United States to offer college degrees.
 The first president of Gallaudet is Edward
Miner Gallaudet, son of Thomas Hopkins
Gallaudet.
 While
Deaf people were not allowed in the
military in both World War I and II, the labor
shortages provided many job opportunities
for Deaf people in America.
 Many take manufacturing jobs, and new deaf
communities, such as the one based around
the Goodyear plant in Akron, Ohio, flourish.
 Meanwhile, in Europe, entire companies of
deaf soldiers take up arms. In the field,
commands are being given using special signs
that can be seen at a distance.
1960-First Linguistic book and defense of ASL as
a language by William Stoke.
 1968 - Bilingual Education Act (P.L. 89-10) is
passed. American Sign Language is not included
because it is not recognized as a language.
 Discuss Era of Change…

Total Communication leads to: Mainstreaming.
 1970-1972 – Signing systems developed. These
sign systems are to be used simultaneously with
speech to promote the development of English
skills.
 1973-Disabled gain right to equal access: The
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 includes a section
requiring that the disabled be given access and
equal opportunity to use the resources of
organizations that receive federal funds or that
are under federal contracts.
 This opens many doors, requires
accommodations such as TTY phones and
interpreters be provided for the deaf.


1975 – Public Law 94-142 :is passed requiring
handicapped children in the U.S. be provided
with free and appropriate education, allowing
many to be mainstreamed into regular public
schools, where they receive special instruction
but interact with the general public school
population.
 Silent
Network - A Deaf Cable Channel.
Broadcasting in 1981 with only 2 million
homes, and by 1990, many as 14 million
homes has access to the program. The
network went 24-hours a day, seven days a
week.
 1985-Cochlear implants approved for clinical
trials in people 18 years and older.
 1987-Deaf actress wins an Oscar. Marlee
Matlin becomes the first Deaf actress to win
an Academy Award for her role in “Children
of a Lesser God”.
 Who
can tell me what happened?
 The
1972 Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) is re-adopted and
amended to recommend that disabled
students should attend schools with the
"least restrictive environment."
 Residential deaf schools are in shock as they
become labeled the "most restrictive
environment."
1995- The first deaf Miss America was crowned.
(Heather Whitestone)
 She was quoted as saying “Speech worked for
me, but it does not work for all deaf children.”
 Speech vs. sign clouds her reign. Her attempt to
calm the storm by stressing individual
differences and "it (speech) worked for me, but
it does not work for all deaf children" does not
entirely end the controversy. The question is
often asked, "Is she an appropriate deaf role
model for deaf children and for the general
public?"
 Meanwhile, cochlear implants and implanting
was on the rise. The age was lowered to 2 years
of age for implantation.
