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550
A.D. 345-550 Early Christians See Deafness as Sin
St. Augustine tells early Christians that deaf children are a sign of God's anger at the sins of their parents. Meanwhile, Benedictine monks take vows of silence to better honor God. To communicate necessary information, they develop their own form of sign language. -
Jan 1, 1500
1500's Deaf Education Develops
The physician Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy, attempts to teach his deaf son using a code of symbols. Pedro Ponce de Leon, a Benedictine monk, successfully teaches speech to people deaf since birth. -
1760 French Sign Language Established
A French priest, Charles Michel De L'Eppe, establishes the first free public school for the deaf in France. De L'Eppe tries to develop a bridge between the deaf and hearing worlds through a system of standardized signs and finger spelling. -
1788
Charles Michel De L’Eppe publishes a dictionary of French sign language. -
1817- First American School for the Deaf Founded
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, an American interested in deaf education, travels to Europe where he meets the Archbishop Roche Sicard, the author of "Theory of Signs,” and successor to De L’Eppe. Sicard sends one of his instructors, Laurent Clerc, and the pair found the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. -
1850's A Deaf State Is Proposed
John Flournoy, proposes to Congress that land be set aside in the western territories for the creation of a deaf state, where deaf people could better enjoy their own community and flourish unrestrained by prejudice and the restrictive good intentions of hearing society. -
1870's Alexander Graham Bell Promotes Deaf Education
Telephone inventor Bell, whose mother was hard of hearing and whose father spent much of his life promoting a defunct teaching method for the deaf called "visible speech," begins his career as a deaf educator. In 1872, he opens a school in Boston that concentrates on oral methods of instruction for teachers of the deaf. -
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. -
1890
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is founded and gains support in reaction to the Milan resolution. -
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. -
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. -
1960
Stokoe publishes his findings about sign language as a legitimate language. In 1965 a Dictionary of ASL on Linguistic Principles is published. Pilgrim Imagining starts open captioning in the Caption Films for the Deaf Program, under U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare. Robin Michelson and colleague Melvin Bartz construct a cochlear device with biocompatible materials that can be implanted in human patients. This system is implanted in 4 patients, and the report of hearing results. -
1964 Phone for Deaf Invented
Phone for Deaf Invented and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is established. 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. Located on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology, NTID is the first technological college for deaf students in the world. -
2006
There are an estimated 560 million people in the world with a hearing loss. -
Deaf History
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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. -
384-322B.C. Ancient Greeks Deny Deaf Education
The philosopher Aristotle claims that "Deaf people could not be educated [since] without hearing, people could not learn."