American Deaf Culture
Historical Timeline

By Wendy Shaner

Introduction to Deaf History

•      Centuries-long struggle of discrimination

•      Opportunities for the hearing-impaired

•      Debate over manual and oral communication.

•      Deaf Education

•      Cochlear implant debate.

In the Beginning

Hebrew Law Denies Deaf Rights
1000BC

•      The Torah protected the deaf from being cursed by others

•      Does not allow the Deaf to participate

    fully in the rituals of the Temple.

•      Special laws concerning marriage and

    property were established for deaf-mutes

•      Property Rights were denied to Deaf-mutes

•      Deaf-mutes were not allowed to be witnesses in the courts.

Philosophy of Innate Intelligence
427-347 B.C.

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

Ancient Greeks Deny Deaf Education
355 B.C.

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.

Early Christians See Deafness as Sin
345-550 A.D.

St. Augustine

•      Tells early Christians that deaf children are a sign of God's anger at the sins of their parents.

Dark and Middle Ages

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 476-1453

•      “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

In the Middle

Enlightenment Begins

First Attempts at Educating the Deaf
1500’s

Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy

•      First physician to recognize the ability of the deaf to reason.

•      Attempts  to teach his deaf son using a code of symbols, believing that the deaf can be taught written symbolic language.

1500’s cont.

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.

•   He taught deaf sons of the Spanish nobility in order that they might inherit property.

•   Used reading and writing, but also taught speech.

1620

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.

Martha's Vineyard
1690-1880

•      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.

•      Almost all inhabitants signed and town meetings were signed for all.

•      Deaf islanders married, had families, worked, voted, held public office and were equal.

Martha’s Vineyard cont.

•      The birth rate for deaf children

–   1 in 155 on the island

–   In some villages as high as 1 in 25 and 1 in 4 (compared to the average of 1 in 1000).

–   In some villages, as many as 25 percent of the residents are deaf.

•      American School for the Deaf was established 1817

–   Island deaf children went to Hartford to be educated

–   They brought island signs with them and influenced FSL in its change to ASL.

Start of Oral Education
1755

Samuel Heinicke

•      German oral teacher of the deaf

•      The first oral school for the deaf in the world in Germany.

•      Using techniques developed by a Dutch doctor,

–    Heinicke teaches pupils speech by having them feel his throat while he speaks

–    his orally based educational techniques are called "the German Method."

French Sign Language Established
1760

Charles Michel De L'Eppe

•      A French priest, and "father of Sign

     Language and Deaf Education"

•      Established the first free public school for the deaf in France.

•      Tried to develop a bridge between the deaf and hearing worlds through a system of standardized signs and finger spelling.

Charles Michel De L'Eppe
cont.

•      Founded a shelter for the deaf in Paris and a school for deaf children in Truffaut, France.

•      Established the first free public school for the deaf (1771)

•      Wrote "The Instruction of Deaf and Mute Persons Using Methodological Signs", first book to advocate the use of natural signs (1776)

•      In 1788 he published a dictionary of French sign language.

Deaf Education Spreads Around the World 1760-1780’s

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

•      American interested in deaf education

•      Travels to Europe and meets Laurent Clerc

•      Gallaudet and Clerc return to American and found the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.

•      Originally named the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons, the first permanent school for the deaf in America.

First American Deaf School cont.

•      Many teachers of the deaf, train in Hartford, and, soon sign-based deaf schools in New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and elsewhere begin to flourish.

•      Alice Cogswell, Gallaudet's initial inspiration to teach the deaf, is the first to graduate from the American School.

Deaf Schools Spread

1818 - New York School for the Deaf established
1820 - Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
1823 - Kentucky School for the Deaf
1829 - Ohio School for the Deaf
1839 - Virginia School for the Deaf

1843-1912 - More than 30 schools for the Deaf were established by Deaf and hearing teachers from the American School for the Deaf and Gallaudet College, including schools in Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas.

Golden Age of Deaf Education

    1840 - 1912 - "Golden Age of Deaf Education" American Sign Language flourishes Approximately 40% of all teachers are Deaf

A Deaf State Is Proposed
1850’s

John Flournoy

•      Former pupil of the Connecticut school

•      Proposed to Congress that there be a deaf state

–   Land be set aside in the western territories for the creation of a deaf state

–   Deaf could control their schools and establish their own government

–   For the deaf community to flourish unrestrained by prejudice and the often restrictive good intentions of hearing society.

Gallaudet College Opens
1864

Abraham Lincoln

•      Signs the charter for the Washington, D.C. based college for the deaf.

•      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.

•      The dedication of the Gallaudet family is honored when the college changes its name to Gallaudet College in 1893.

•      Today, Gallaudet remains a leader in higher education for the deaf.

Alexander Graham Bell Promotes Deaf Education
1870’s

Alexander Graham Bell

•      Telephone inventor who began his career

    as a deaf educator.

•      Mother was hard of hearing and whose father spent much of his life promoting a teaching method for the deaf called "visible speech,"

  Bell’s Deaf School

  1872 opens a school in Boston that

   concentrates on oral methods of instruction for teachers of the deaf.

Bell cont.

•      The school is not successful, due  to heavy opposition from established deaf schools that use manual sign methods.

•      Bell eventually gives up administering deaf education and refocuses his attention on a contraption he has been tinkering with that mechanizes speech.

•      In 1876, he invents the telephone. Armed with wealth and enormous recognition, he goes on to found the Volta Bureau to promote oral- based education for deaf children.

•      A period of upheaval in deaf education begins with a backlash against sign language.

1880’s

           The Conference of Milan

           Endorses Oral Education

•    In a move with repercussions well into the future, this international gathering of deaf educators pronounces oral education methods superior to manual communications systems.

•    The only country opposing the vote for oral-based education is the United States, where manual education has made great strides.

Milan  Conference Cont.

•    During the next 10 years, the popularity of manual education for the deaf declines sharply.

•    Seventy-five percent of teachers using the manual method have retired by 1890.

•    In the U.S., the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is founded and gains support in reaction to the Milan resolution.

•    The NAD is instrumental in keeping sign language and manual education alive.

1800’s cont.

•      1880

     Helen Keller is born in Tuscambia, Alabama. Taught at home by her friend and teacher Annie Sullivan and later at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Mass. Helen graduated from Radcliffe College. She lost both her hearing and sight at 19 months, but went on to become an educated person.

•      1887
Women admitted to the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet).

1892

Electrical Hearing Aid Invented

•    While early hearing aids are not easy to use (most weigh several pounds and must be placed on a desk), the carbon-based microphones, powered by large three- and six-volt batteries, give hearing-impaired people truly amplified sound for the first time.

•    Alexander Graham Bell reportedly develops an earphone for amplifying sound, but he never pursues a patent.

Gallaudet As It Is Known Today

•      1894
National Deaf-Mute College became Gallaudet College.

1880’s-1920’s

Deaf Players Change Baseball

and Football

•      In 1901, baseball's American

    League gets its first grand slam

    thanks to William "Dummy" Hoy,

    a deaf player. Umpire hand signals are developed so that Hoy can see a strike call from the outfield.

•      In the 1920s, Gallaudet University's football team keeps its plays a secret by hiding signed instructions in a huddle formation. Soon, other teams are huddling up too, and a football tradition is born.

Rise of Oralism

•      1927 - Oralism in America is at its zenith. Only 15% of teachers are Deaf

1910’s-1950’s

Deaf Employment Skyrockets

•      While deaf people are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military during World War I and World War II, wartime labor shortages provide many new job opportunities for deaf people.

•      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 given using

    special signs that can be seen at a distance.

 
 1941-1945 - World War Two creates a need for labor. Deaf men and women are hired in record numbers to work in defense industries. Many relocate to work in factories in California, Ohio, New York and Washington, DC. Many employers note the abilities of Deaf workers for the first time.

ASL is a Language

•      1960 - First Linguistic book and defense of ASL as a language by William Stoke

1964

Phone for Deaf Invented

•    Robert Weitbrecht, who is deaf, invents the teletypewriter (TTY), which enables deaf people to use phone lines to call each other and type out their conversations.

1964

Oral Deaf Education Labeled 'Failure‘

•    Congress issues the Babbidge Report on oral deaf education and concludes that it has been a "dismal failure." Many in the deaf community applaud this report, and look at it as a long-over due acknowledgment of the superiority of manual communication and education.

Deaf Theater Takes Shape

•      1965 - Bernard Bragg, a deaf actor and mime, stars in “The Silent Man", a TV program in California. Bragg, a graduate of the Fanwood School for the Deaf in White Plains, New York was a co-founder of the National Theater of the Deaf and has toured America with his one-man show

•      1967 - National Theater of the Deaf is established

Legislation at Work

•      1968 - Bilingual Education Act (P.L. 89-10) is passed. American Sign Language is not included because it is not recognized as a language

1970’s

Total Communication Leads to

Mainstreaming

•      Two historically divergent education methods converge, at least in theory, as Total Communication, a combination of manual and speech-based instruction for the deaf is developed and promoted.

•      Formulated in the early 1960's by a mother dissatisfied with oral-based attempts to teach her deaf daughter, the Total Communication system gains grassroots support and becomes the foundation for a new approach to deaf education within public school systems.

Development of Other Sign Systems

•      1970-1972 - Signed English, Seeing Essential English and SEE II methods are developed in order to create a manual code for English that can be used to supplement the Oral method. These sign systems are to be used simultaneously with speech to promote the development of English skills.

1972

Program Captioning Introduced

•    The Caption Center at WGBH in Boston open captions "The French Chef" the country's first nationally broadcast captioned program. It airs on PBS. By 1980 Close Captioning is developed and the first show broadcast. Close Captioning hides the text from view unless the user has a decoding device. By 1993, the FCC requires that all newly manufactured televisions have the decoding chip.

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 for wheelchair-bound and blind individuals, and also requires that accommodations such as TTY phones and interpreters be provided for the deaf.

1974 Census

•      National Association of the Deaf did census of Deaf Americans; counted 13.4 million hearing and 1.8 million deaf Americans.

1975 – Public Law 94-142

•      By 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. Mainstreaming is accepted as current educational philosophy. Number of Deaf teacher's drops to its lowest point - 11%.

 

 Section 504

•       1978 - Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is passed. The law requires that all businesses, colleges and organizations which have federal contracts or receive federal funds be open and accessible to physically disabled persons

Linguistic Research

•      1979 - The Signs of Language Klima and Bellugi. First Linguistic research on ASL

1980’s

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.

Sign Language Books Written by Deaf Authors

•      1980 - First sign language books by deaf authors - Padden, Humphries and O'Rourke's "ABC's of ASL"

Deaf Mosiac

•      1985 - Deaf Mosiac begins broadcasting from Gallaudet University Television Studios in Washington, DC. The program, which ended production in 1995, won Emmy awards for, the producers and hosts Mary Lou Novitisky and Gil Eastman

1985

Cochlear Implants Approved

•    The cochlear implant is approved for clinical trials in people 18 and older.

•    The device is a mechanical prosthesis of sorts for the inner ear.

•    It bypasses the bones of the inner ear, placing electrodes directly into the cochlea, where sound waves are absorbed and interpreted by the auditory nerve.

•    Some Deaf leaders view it as a conspiracy to destroy Deaf Culture

1987

Deaf Actress Wins Oscar

•    Marlee Matlin becomes the first deaf actress to win an Academy Award, for her role in the movie "Children of a Lesser God."

1988

'Deaf President Now'

Protest Held

•      Students and faculty at Gallaudet University protest the selection of another hearing president.

•      The 'Deaf President Now' protest continues for one week, with multiple rallies, press conferences and marches.

•      After eight days of student protests, I. King Jordan is named the first deaf president of Gallaudet University.

•      Meanwhile, Congress recommends that American Sign Language be used as the primary language for the deaf, with English as a second language.

DPN

•      1988 - Students and faculty at Gallaudet University protest the selection of Dr. Elisabeth Zinser a hearing president. Deaf President Now Protest (DPN) continues for one week, ending with the selection of I. King Jordan as the first Deaf President of Gallaudet University and a change in the members of the college Board of Directors

ASL and Deaf Education

•      1988 - Signing Naturally Curriculum published, written and produced by Deaf authors Ella Mae Lentz and Ken Mikos
1988 - "Unlocking the Curriculum" published by the Gallaudet University Linguistics Department. This proposes a return to ASL as the first method of instruction for Deaf children. It refutes the Manually Coded English approaches, using speech and sign.

Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf

•      1988 - Congressional Report published - "Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf." Report recommends that ASL be used as a primary medium of language instruction with English as a second language. Also recommends that ASL be included in the Bilingual Education Act. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) investigates the possibility of adding ASL and Deaf children to the Bilingual Education Act, but again it is not approved because of the status of hearing parents and questions regarding ASL as a foreign language.

1990

Americans with Disabilities Act

Passed

•    Discriminatory practices and obstacles to accessibility for the handicapped are both outlawed.

•    The law has a huge impact on the wheel chair dependent, and also requires greater communications, education, and employment opportunities for the deaf.

•    In keeping with the ADA, caption decoder chips are required in television sets larger than 13".

1990

Deaf Schools Termed

'Restrictive'

•    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 struck a blow as they become labeled the "most restrictive environment."

•    Enrollment plunges, and some schools close their doors.

IDEA

•      1993 - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is passed. U. S. Department of Education establishes a Policy of Inclusion, giving all disabled students the right to attend neighborhood schools in a "least restrictive environment." Residential schools for the Deaf are labeled "most restrictive environment." Policy of assimilation into society is the goal of IDEA. Residential schools for the Deaf in some states are forced to close because of decreasing enrollment, but number of Deaf teachers rise slightly (to 16%) as more teaching opportunities in the public schools and the desire for Deaf role models increase.

1995

First Deaf Miss America Crowned

•      Heather Whitestone, an orally

•      educated deaf woman from Birmingham, Alabama, wins the coveted crown.

•      She states, "[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?"

1995

•      Use of cochlear Implants increases. Nucleus 22 device and SPEAK Speech Processing system (developed at the University of Melbourne, Australia) are the latest technological advances in implantation.

•      12,000 candidates have been implanted at a cost of approximately $40,000.

•      Adults and Children severely to profoundly Deaf, age two and above are considered candidates.

•      Many parents opt for cochlear implants and mainstreamed education as an educational plan for their Deaf children.

1995

Statistics and notes about cochlear implants

•      The average percentage of words identified correctly from a sentence test by deafened-adult test subjects who had their implants for at least six months was 12% without lipreading. That means they missed 88% of the words.

•      But since then, as the processors have improved, the 12% has increased to 78%, and that's still without lipreading.

•      Over 7,000 people with various types of implants worldwide over 1,000 (out of 7,000) are children

1996 - Movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" is released starring Richard Dryfus as a music teacher who must learn to understand his Deaf son

1998

•      The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released new captioning rules for the broadcast and cable television industry.

•      These new rules now require 100% of cable television to be captioned with eight years - 2006, and require real-time captioning for many local news programs.

•      The FCC will also be revising its rule to require that 100% of new programming must be captioned, beginning Jan. 1, 2006

2000

Christy Smith, Athletic Deaf Woman Competed

on Survivor

•      Christy Smith (2000) alumnus of Gallaudet University, Smith competed on this season's Survivor reality series on CBS, "The Amazon."

•      The other contestants were not told in advance that Smith is deaf, by the way.

2001

Sudden Hearing Loss - Rush Limbaugh Talk Show

Host Deaf

•      Due to autoimmune inner ear disease.

•      Used a Teleprompter and staff assistance to answer callers.

•      A cochlear implant was the solution for Limbaugh. He needed one because one ear was totally deaf, and the other one was nearly so. As someone who had already experienced hearing, he was a good implant candidate.

•      The implant in his left ear restored some hearing, but the right ear is still deaf.

2002

Deanne Bray - Deaf Actress and Television Star

•      F.B.Eye on the Pax channel.

•      Bray grew up deaf since birth (May 14, 1971) and uses one hearing aid.

•      Bray was involved with deaf theater (Deaf West Theatre).

2003

Curtis Pride - Deaf Professional Baseball Player

•      Born in the Washington, DC metro area, deaf at birth from rubella. He grew up oral.

•      Pride began his career as a part-time New York Mets minor leaguer, and moved on to stints with the Montreal Expos (minors and majors), the Detroit Tigers (majors), the Boston Red Sox (minors/briefly in the majors), the Atlanta Braves (majors), the Kansas City Royals, the Salt Lake Stingers (minors), and the Nashua Pride (minors).

•      In 2003, Pride was called up from the minors by the New York Yankees. The Yankee stint did not last long - only four games.

2005 - Foxy Brown, Deaf?

•      In December 2005, Foxy held a press conference to reveal that her hearing had deteriorated so much, she needed someone to tap out beats on her shoulder when she was in the recording studio.

•      She announced she was suffering from severe and sudden sensorineural hearing loss in both ears for about 1 year.

•      She underwent the cochlear implant surgery

The Cochlear Implant

2006

•      Today, over 30,000 individuals have been implanted worldwide, over 3,000 cochlear implants were performed in 1999 alone.

•      The FDA has now approved cochlear implants in children as young as 12 months of age. Excellent speech and hearing results are expected to be part of their future with proper follow-up and training.

•      Next Next Side shows the Surgery Process

Cochlear Implant Surgery

Surgery Continues

Questions or Comments

•      Journal Assignment

–   Do you feel that the Cochlear implants are seen as a positive or negative as a whole?

•   Which side makes the strongest argument? The Deaf view or the Medical. Explain your thoughts.