1. In what ways were Old Testament and New Testament attitudes towards deafness different?
In the Old Testament people with disabilities were given great respect and given much hope for
their eternal futures. In fact, one of the laws described in Leviticus as sent from God to Moses is
“Thou shalt not curse the deaf.” In Isaiah it is claimed that when we die “the deaf hear the words
of the book,” and “the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.”
The New Testament is not quite so generous. Instead, people with disabilities are fixed by Jesus
and are used as a way to demonstrate his ability to perform miracles. In Matthew Jesus is
depicted with a group of people when he pulls a man aside, put his fingers into a man’s ears and
“straightway his ears were opened.” In Mark, things look even worse for the deaf. He describes
a deaf boy as having “a dumb spirit” with implications that it is somehow evil because Jesus
saves the day when he “rebuked the foul spirit” to come out and “enter no more into him.”
2. What was the role of deafness and Deaf people in the New Testament?
Primarily deafness and deaf people were a means to an end. Jesus demonstrates his miracle
powers by laying on hands, poking ears, and rebuking evil deaf spirits as a way to show that he is
more than just a human. Bottom line, the deaf are mere objects for Jesus to “fix.”
3. What is the importance of the sentence in Romans “So then faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God”?
Not surprisingly it was bitter Paul who makes this statement in one of his lovely “epistles” to the
out of control Romans. Who knows what Paul really meant to be saying? He had a way of
letting his bitterness come out in his writings. In any event, people have interpreted this quote by
Paul to say that if you are deaf you are denied the potential for an eternal life with the Lord. In
other words, you can only know God through actually “hearing” the word of God.
This is ironic in light of the Old Testament. Remember that in Isaiah it is claimed that when we
die “the deaf hear the words of the book,” and “the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.”
According to Paul, it comes a little too late in the game of life.
4. In what ways were St. Augustine's views of Deaf people significant?
St. Augustine didn’t really believe that the deaf could not be of the faith. This was breaking
from Church doctrine of the time. Instead he acknowledged that deafness could be a “hindrance
to faith.” Thus the deaf could obtain eternal salvation but only by learning the words of God
through other measures. St. Augustine’s views as early as the 4th century show first that the deaf
were engaging in some form of communication through signs and gestures. Additionally, it’s
important because it is a change in Church doctrine and third, it showed the importance of
teaching the deaf other forms of communication. Augustine specifically indicated that whether
a person speaks or signs, the information still reaches the soul. Clearly, the burden then became
for the Church to get the information to the soul of the deaf person.
5. Why was Solomon Alberti's book important?
He was the first medical doctor to state without question that speech and hearing are separate
functions. He studied cadavers and proved that the nerves controlling hearing and speech were
not connected and entered the brain in different places. He also wrote that deaf people were as
capable of rational thought as the hearing.
6. What is the origin of the finger spelling used in the United States today?
A monk in the 16th Century, Fray Melchor de Yebra published some drawings of hand shapes
that represented the Spanish alphabet. He felt that finger spelling was useful as a way for Monks
to take confessions from the deaf as they.
Standardized sign languages have been used in Italy
since the 17th century and in France since the 18th century for the instruction of the deaf.
It is believed that these early efforts at sign language influenced the colonists in early American.
However, the United States a minister and deaf educator Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet is credited
with popularizing sign language. In and around Martha’s Vinyard the population had a much
higher rate of deafness than the general population. As a result Gallaudet traveled the world in
attempting to find the best way to educate deaf children. In 1817 he founded the American
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb (now the American School for the Deaf), in Hartford,
Connecticut, to teach sign language to American deaf students.
7. What do you think of Digby's account of his trip and meeting with Don Luis de Velasco?
Digby was obviously engaging in a little “puffing.” The claim was that Don Luis was so deaf
that you could shoot a shotgun next to his ear and Don Luis would not be able to hear it. Yet,
Digby claimed that Don Luis was taught “perfect” speech by a priest. In fact, the ability to speak
was so amazing that Don Luis ld pick up the accents of those to whom he watched talk. Don
Luis could then perfectly imitate the accents that he “heard” through their lip movements.
The purpose of Digby’s account was to make clear that deafness does not prevent the ability for
clear speech.
8. What was important about Deusing's book?
Anthony Deusing published a book in Holland called, The Deaf and the Dumb Man Discourse in
1656; this book gave an influential view on why signing is an easier method of teaching than the
oral methods. Deusing’s book was one of the first sufficicated looks at the exact method by
which the deaf communicated and signed.
9. What do we know about the education of Deaf people in America before 1800?
Around 1690 the island community of Martha’s Vineyard was predominantly hearing, but
because there were so many Deaf citizens, nearly everybody was able to communicate with each
other through a form of sign language that was commonly called Martha’s Vineyard Sign.
Martha’s Vineyard became one of the earliest stable communities for the hearing and Deaf in
America. The people of Martha’s Vineyard were known to have a hereditary disease that caused
Deafness. Even though Martha’s Vineyard might now be known as a great summer getaway, it
will always remain a keystone of hope and pride in the glorious history of Deaf communities;
however it played a small role in the overall development of ASL.
References
Crouch, Barry A. and Van Cleve, John V. (1989). A Place of Their Own: Creating the Deaf
Community in America. Washington, D.C. Gallaudet University Press.
Dolnick, Edward. (1993 September). Deafness As A Culture. Atlantic Monthly. [periodical,
selected stories on-line]. [1993 September]
Humphries, Tom and Padden, Carol (1988). Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture Harvard
University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England.