Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Sounds surround us
everyday they affect our lives
But what would it be like if you were to hear nothing?
What does a deaf person look like?
They are no different than you and me.
They have the same dreams and live normal lives.
The only difference is they can't hear.
This is reality.
But, the deaf haven't always been viewed this way.
Deafness was an uncommon thing and frowned upon.
The Greek Philosopher Aristotle claimed deaf people couldn't be educated since they couldn't hear.
In fact, early Christians thought deafness was a way of God punishing you or your parents.
The first attempt at helping the deaf started in the 1500s in Europe.
Pedro Ponce de Leon was very fond of the deaf and tried to help them communicate.
Eventually the deaf would be held from their own rights.
It seemed as though all hope was lost.
Charles Michel De L'eppe, a french priest was one of the main characters who began to turn this around for the deaf.
He started the first free deaf school in France in 1760.
His main goal was to develop a system of signs made with your hands to help the deaf communicate.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, an american man, became interested in helping the deaf.
He traveled to France to study their methods of teaching the deaf.
He came back to America with one of the instructors, Laurent Clerc.
Laurent Clerc took french techniques and other american signs and blended them forming them into what is now known as...
A.S.L. or American Sign Language.
Together Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc co founded the first school for the deaf in Hartford, CT.
Abraham Lincoln also contributed by signing off on the first college for the deaf founded on 1864.
Many know Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone.
He was also a teacher for deaf children in Boston.
His mother and wife were deaf.
Bell promoted the teaching of visual speech.
He thought that teaching children to sign with their hands would hold them back in the hearing world.
He meant well but many deaf believe that is was the start of the dark ages in the deaf community.
In the late 1860s, oral schools for deaf started to open up. No signing was allowed.
They thought if children saw the movements of the mouth and learned the breathing patterns of speech
then they could eventually learn to speak.
1880 in Milan, Italy at a conference of deaf educators
a decision was past that oral education was superior to sign language.
The only country opposing the vote was the United States due to success.
This movement promoted lip reading and oral speech with threatened to extinguish ASL.
Some hard of hearing students were able to learn to speak to their best ability.
But for the most part the deaf had a hard time developing speech.
Deaf children playing together at these schools would sign in secret or hiding.
Sign Language allows the deaf to express their feelings, tell stories and develop friendships with other people.
In 1880 the deaf also established their own association called
The National Association for the Deaf or ***.
In 1906 the civil service decided that the deaf could not work for the government.
The *** with its 7th president, George Veditz fought this decision.
After 2 years of protest, Theodore Roosevelt made adjustments allowing the deaf to work for the government.
Around 1910 a group of educators, skilled signers, made videos using ASL in aim to preserve it.
The poetic beauty of sign language.
Despite years of controversy there were many deaf men and women who truly shined.
To mention a few...
Le Roy Colombo, from Galveston, TX was a deaf lifeguard that saved 907 lives.
Making that recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Nellie Zabel Willhite was the first deaf woman to get her pilots license.
She participated in air shows, races and aerial stunts inspiring many deaf to learn how to fly.
William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy was a Major League Baseball player for 15 years.
He was speedy, nimble and a good hitter. He is believed to play a big role in empire signals.
In society it always seemed like the deaf were inferior to hearing people.
But, sports allowed for a more equal playing ground.
Deaf sports teams were very successful playing against hearing teams.
In fact, legend has it that in 1890 an all deaf football team started the idea of getting into a huddle to discuss plays
so that the other team could not see the signs telling of their next moves.
In 1964 there were more than 85 million telephones in the United States and Canada.
The deaf were left out of this modern convenience.
They would have to ask their hearing neighbors help or depend upon their hearing children for business calls or medical consultations.
Robert H. Weitbrecht, a successful deaf Physicist, invented the teletypewriter or TTY.
Despite many obstacles, this invention eventually took off and was a wonderful help in allowing the deaf more freedoms and independance.
Julie Davis, born deaf in 1968 explains what it was like getting a TTY...
She says...
The passing of time didn't resolve the controversy of the oral teaching method versus the use of signs in the classroom.
Julie, raised in Panama CIty in the 70s was encouraged to develop a voice and learn to lip read.
When asked about what it was like to communicate with her family she says...
When asked about how she felt that her parents never learned how to sign, she says...
Having friends to talk to in her own language helps Julie feel like a part of society and not left out.
She can express herself and form friendships with others.
Keila Arts was born deaf but eventually lost her sight.
Being blind and deaf can be a challenge.
Learning tactile sign language was crucial.
Tactile is sign language done under the hands of the person blind and deaf.
They feel your signs to know what you are saying and then respond by signing back.
The invention of the Cochlear implant was the root of more controversy.
This is an electronic device surgically implanted into a deaf patient giving the person a sense of sound.
Some viewed it as a miracle cure and others wouldn't even consider it. Reasoning it would be like turning their back on their deaf culture.
Imagine what it would be like to watch a movie without sound.
It was a challenge before Closed Captioning.
In the late 80s decoders had to be bought separate until they were built into television sets.
These accommodations made the deaf feel more comfortable in the hearing world.
The Video Relay System or VRS was a useful invention allowing ones to contact friends and family.
VRS also provides interpreters so they can arrange their own appointments and 911 calls.
Everyday new inventions are being made to assist the deaf.
Fire alarms that flash,
vibrating alarm clocks under pillows,
flickering lights to alert a visitor is at the door or that your child is waking up from a nap.
Dogs are even assisting the deaf.
Videos are being produced to assist the deaf spiritually, too.
It is wonderful to see the progress made.
Hearing parents with hearing children have realized the benefits of sign language, even with babies.
Babies as young as 8 months are able to sign to their parents.
The deaf have been through a lot through the years.
And still have battles to face.
I have only highlighted some of the main events that have affected the deaf world.
What can you do?
Make it your aim to learn a few signs,
make a new friend,
and open you mind to this beautiful, unspoken language.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community