1540s
Pedro Ponce de Leon
Spanish Benedictine monk, Ponce de Leon, is credited with being the first person to teach the deaf. Don Francisco de Velasco and Don Pedro de Velasco among a handful of other deaf individuals of the monastery were taught by Ponce de Leon.
17-19 century
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
Residents of the island, about 1 out of every 155, experienced a hereditary form of deafness which presented as complete deafness from birth. This population of residents developed a specialized sign language which hearing and deaf residents learned during childhood and used to communicate in their daily life. As the number of deaf individuals on the island declined, the island’s unique sign language became extinct in 1952.
18th Century
French Education
In Paris, Charles-Michele de l’Epee founded the first school for deaf children, Institut National des Jeunes Sourds (INJS). INJS focused on the use of signed language as well as a national spoken and written language as part of their education.
1778
German Education
Samuel Heinicke established a school for the deaf in Leipzig, Germany that centered on the oral method of education. It focused on training deaf children in lipreading and the articulation of oral speech of their national language.
1817
American School for the Deaf
Laurent Clerc, a deaf teacher from INJS along with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, an American education philanthropist, founded the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Ct. Clerc’s experience with French Sign Language or LSF greatly influenced American Sign Language or ASL.
1880
Founding of NAD
The U.S. National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was founded. This association focused on ensuring sign language be a staple of education for deaf individuals and that rights of deaf people were respected in everyday life.
Late 1800s- 1920s
Social Shift and suppression of ASL
The oralist method became dominant and sign language was suppressed. In 1883, Alexander Graham Bell, famous for inventing the telephone, called for the prevention of marriage of deaf people as it posed a threat for a “deaf-mute variety of the human race.”
20th Century
Organizations and Community
In 1924, the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf and the World Games of the Deaf (aka Deaflympics) were formed. In 1951, the World Federation of the Deaf was also founded. These, among other organizations, focused on ensuring deaf individuals had access to employment and ensuring that the public saw deaf people as contributing members to society.
WWII
Employment and violence
World War II had two major effects on the deaf community. As deaf individuals weren’t able to be drafted, employment of deaf individuals arose in blue-collar jobs such as factories, machinery and other similar job markets. It is estimated that a total of 17,000 deaf Germans were sterilized and others had forced abortions, were victims of experimentation or concentration camps or were killed by Nazis.
1970
Total Communication Movement
Roy Holcomb, a deaf American, led the movement, which called for the use of all possible means of education for deaf children such as signing and speaking.
1980s-90s
ASL as a foreign language credit
Many colleges and universities around the U.S. accepted and taught ASL as a foreign language credit in their curriculums.
1988
Deaf President Now Protest
Students from Gallaudet University, named after Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and the world’s only liberal arts university for deaf people, protested the incoming President of the University, Elizabeth Zinser, as she was a hearing person. After a week of protest and national media attention, American psychologist, I. King Jordan, was appointed the first deaf president of the university.
