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700 BCE
The Beginning
As early as ancient Greece it was thought that the deaf were unteachable and left to their own devices. -
Progress
In the 1600s, the Benedictine monk Pedro Ponce de Leon developed a means to teach deaf people to speak. At about the same time Geronimo Cardano successfully taught his deaf son to communicate using a variety of symbols. A basis for modern sign language -
Charles Michel de L’Eppe
In 1760, Charles Michel de L’Eppe created a free public school for the deaf, the first of its kind, and taught he own finger spelling and signs. -
Charles Michel de L’Eppe Cont.
By 1788 he had made the first French sign language dictionary -
Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
In the 19th century, a "triangle" of village sign languages developed in New England: one in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; one in Henniker, New Hampshire, and one in Sandy River Valley, Maine. This was one of the main bases for Thomas Galludet's creation of ASL -
American Sign Language
Thomas Hopkins Galludet goes to France and brings Charles-Michel de l'Épée back to the United States and then with his help found the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut and creates American Sign Language -
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was also a deaf educator in the mid to late 1800s. His mother was born hard of hearing and his father worked on a form of sign language called “visible speech.” He used the funds from his telephone invention to develop the Volta Bureau, a school to teach hearing-impaired children. -
Hearing Aids
In 1892, the first electrical hearing aid was invented and powered by large batteries, allowing many hearing-impaired people heard for the first time. -
Closed Captioning
Captioned Films for the Deaf Act (1958)- Legislation signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower that granted federally funding for the captioning of movies, and eventually television programming. -
Section 504
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a law that ensures that individuals with disabilities will not be excluded from participation in programs that receive federal financial assistance, such as public schools. -
EAHCA
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) passes which grants federal funding to school in order to provide equal access to education for children with disabilities. -
Cochlear Implant
In 1985, cochlear implants become available to those whose medical condition warrants them. They allowed for a deaf person to more clearly understand their peers and also learn to speak more effectively. -
IDEA
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (1990) replaces the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and ensures that students with disabilities are provided with a Free Appropriate Public Education tailored to their individual needs. Changed the entire outlook of special education within the United States. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a law that ensures deaf children have access to state and local governments, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications.
