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Aristotle
Before Crist time, Aristotle was the first to have a claim recorded about the deaf. He believed that people who couldn't hear were incapable of learning. -
Juan Pablo de Bonet
Juan Pablo de Bonet published the first book on teaching sign language to deaf people that contained the manual alphabet -
Jonathan Lambert
Jonathan Lambert, a deaf man, was one of the first residents in Martha's Vineyard. Deafness was common in that area. -
Abbe de L'Epee
Abbe de L'Epee, one of the most important people in the history of sign language, created the first social and religious association for deaf people. -
National Institute for Deaf-Mutes
The first public free deaf school, the National Institute for Deaf-Mutes, was founded by Abbe Charles Michel de L'Eppe. -
Sameul Heinicke
Sameul Heinicke founded the first public deaf school to be recognized by the government. -
Louis-les-Grottes
Louis-les-Grottles had an accident as a child where he fell into the kicken fireplace and danmages his senses of hearing and smelling. He was uneducated until he was 12 years old. -
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
Gallaudet brought his neighbors deaf child to germany to study methods for educating the deaf. -
American School for the Deaf
The American School for the Deaf opened in Hartford, Connecticut, and used sign language to teach deaf students. -
American Asylum at Hartford
The American Asylum at Hartford for the Education and Institution of the Deaf and Dumb is now the American School for the Deaf. -
Kansas School for the Deaf
Kansas School for the Deaf was founded. -
Gallaudet University
Edward Gallaudet, Thomas Gallaudet's son, founded the National Deaf-Mute college which is now Gallaudet University. -
Large Schools
Two of the largest deaf schools began educating the deaf, setting an example for other schools to follow -
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell started in institution in Boston to teach teachers of deaf student to use oral education. He was considered to be damaging the lives of deaf people. -
Milan Conference
The International Congress on the Education of Deaf supported Bell that oral education should be used to teach the Deaf. -
Alexander Graham Bell
He founded an organizatoin called the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf. -
Gallaudet Football
The Gallaudet football team invented the huddle so the opposing team wouldn't know what plan they were attempting. -
William Hoy
The first deaf Major League baseball player. He is the reason why umpires use hand signals today. -
Perservation of Sign Language
George Veditz launched the project Preservation of Sign Language at the National Association of the Deaf. -
Milestone in History
Almost all deaf education programs used the oralism method which was hard on the teachers using sign language to teach. -
The Gestuno
International signs that were developed and used by Deaf Signers at this first international sports event and is continued to use till today. -
First World Congress
The First World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) took place in Rome, Italy. -
William Stokoe
William Stokoe published a dissertation proving that ASL is a language. ASL was then recognized as a national language. He also published a book on American Sign Language being a true language. -
Babbidge Report
The Babbidged Report stated that oralism is not how Deaf people should be taught and the discarded the decision made at the Milan Conference. -
Dictionary of American Sign Language
William Stokoe republished Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. -
Total Communication
The bringing together of many education methods. -
Sign Language Studies
William Stokoe founded the journal Sign Language Studies in 1972. -
Klima and Bellugi
Klima and Bellugi conducted the first linguistics research on American Sign Language. -
Closed Captioning
The first time closed captioning was used on TV. -
Phyllis French
Phyllis French was the first Deaf actress to win a Tony award for the role of "Sarah" in Children of a Lesser God on Broadway. -
The Smurfs
"The Smurfs" became the first cartoon to use sign language in America on TV. -
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin, an actress who lost her hearing at a young age, won an Academy Award for her role in Children of a Lesser God. -
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet College became an official University. It is the only university in the world where everyone talks in ASL. -
Deaf President Now
A student protest movement at Gallaudet University for having a Deaf president for the school. -
Heather Whitestone
The first Deaf women to be named Miss America. -
National Counsil of the Slovak Republic
The National Council of the Slovak Republic passed a law recognizing "Sign Language as a language of communication of the Deaf." -
First Deaf Signer as Member of Parliament
The first Deaf signer was elected to the Uganda parliament as Member of Parliament in Africa South of the Sahara. -
Eldridge v. British
The Canadian Supreme Court ruled in the Eldridge v. British Columbia case that sign language interpreters must be provided in the health care services across Canada. -
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ASL in Public Schools
The public school board approved the second-language program after lobbying for sign language courses and drawing up a curriculum that public schools could provide American Sign Language. -
Deaf Way II
Gallaudet University hosted 10,000 signers from all over the world to gather together, celebrating cultures and sign languages, attending workshops, exchanging ideas, exhibiting works of art, and screening films and videos. -
British Sign Language
The British Government recognized British Sign Language (BSL) as a bona-fide language. -
All ASL Switched at Birth Episode
The ABC Family's Switched at Birth broadcasted its first all-ASL episode in the history on mainstream TV.
