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Apr 1, 1000
The Talmud Denies Deaf Property Rights
The Torah protects the deaf from being cursed by others, but does not allow them to participate fully in the rituals of the Temple. Special laws concerning marriage and property were established for deaf-mutes, but deaf-mutes were not allowed to be witnesses in the courts. -
Apr 1, 1500
Deaf Education Develops
The experimentation that flourishes throughout Renaissance Europe sets the stage for the first attempts at educating the deaf. The physician Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy, attempts to teach his deaf son using a code of symbols, believing that the deaf can be taught written symbolic language. Meanwhile, Pedro Ponce de Leon, a Benedictine monk, successfully teaches speech to people deaf since birth. While neither Ponce de Leon or Cardano leaves much of a legacy, this period prompts Juan Pablo B -
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. Dedicated to helping the less fortunate, the energetic priest also founds a shelter for the deaf in Paris and a school for deaf children in Truffaut, France. In 1788 he publishes a dictionary of French sign language. At the same time, oral educators make str -
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. The school is not successful, however, due to heavy opposition from established deaf schools that use manual sign methods. Bell eventually gives up administering deaf education a -
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. -
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."
