Historical Issues in the Deaf Community: Some Questions and Answers Deaf History? What can that mean?

Well, just like everyone else, Deaf people can look backwards in time, to learn from the experiences of the past. There were always Deaf people in the past. They were not always recognised as having hearing losses often just as stupid or as deranged - and they were shunned by some communities. Even today, some communities hide the Deaf children as they consider they are some sort of punishment. Yet there were also Deaf leaders and periods of progress throughout history. So when can we say Deaf History starts? A very long time ago . Probably in pre-history . .. for thousands upon thousands of years the congenitally deaf were being born and were probably able to take part in what were very simple societies of nomads and farmers. Their special needs of people with a hearing loss probably did not become obvious until the development of speech and writing became a significant factor in progress. The ancient Greeks refer to Deaf people and mention their communication in sign. However, the Greeks placed speaking as the purest form of thinking and so Deaf people were excluded. It is said that even further back, the ancient Egyptians respected Deaf people as their visual communication was considered to be linked to the hieroglyphic writing. There are also references to Deaf people in the writings of Confucius in China and again the way people approached Deaf people and the responsibility the community took for Deaf members was shaped by this thinking. More recently, our attitudes to Deaf people were shaped by what appeared in religious texts the Bible being one of the most significant. Then the Lord said unto him, who hath made mans mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Exodus, 4:11 And also in Leviticus 11:14, You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind ... So we can say quite clearly that there were always Deaf people in our communities. Well, that is a bit far back .. what do we know of more recent history? Religious influence was very strong and Deaf people were seldom given full rights as citizens in Western societies. Roman Law confirmed these ideas and would not allow deaf people to marry. One positive report on the son of Quintus Pedius, a consul with Caesar around 63BC explains that he was able to learn to paint very well even though he was deaf. Such positive views are relatively rare - except where the person was able to learn to speak. In Britain the earliest record is supposed to be that of the Venerable Bede but the

reference is only to someone who was dumb cured by the Bishop (later St John of Beverley). Although there are organisations and institutions which take the name of St John of Beverley there is some doubt as to whether there was a clear association with deafness. Leonardo da Vinci is supposed to have identified the idea of lipreading. Cardano in 1663 claimed that the deaf could hear by reading and speak by writing. But it was not really until Ponce de Leon (1520-1584) set up his school in Spain that deaf education was supposed to have started. He had pupils from all over Spain from the families who had enough money to pay. Bonet also from Spain published the first book on teaching deaf children in 1620. His work in Spain was also based on signing and fingerspelling. Bulwer (1644, 1648) was the first published record of deafness and sign language in Britain. He proposed to set up an academy where sign could be taught. Although he had all these ideas he never put them into practice and there was no direct progress from his writings. Philocophus (1648) is considered the first book which is really devoted to deafness. Is there more recent history? The real roots of the modern treatment of Deaf people are in the schools which were set up in the 18th century. This was when we see the start of the controversy which has raged until very recently should Deaf people be taught with their own language sign language or by the spoken language of the community. The first school was set up in Edinburgh in 1760 by Thomas Braidwood but there was to be a fierce dispute about method in mainland Europe. De lEpee in Paris after an encounter with Deaf sisters set up a shelter for Deaf people in the 1750s which by the 1760s had evolved into the first public school for the Deaf in France. He created the French method which was a system of standardised signs. This is a form of signed speech (speaking and signing at the same time) and was an attempt to regularise the signing so that it could fit better with speech and written language. Heinecke in 1778 set up his school for the deaf in Leipzig. This was solely using the oral method just speak to the children as if they were hearing. He felt that thought came from oral language and written language was a translation of the thought. Heinecke and de lEpee were entirely opposed in their approaches and the huge debate was described as the French versus the German method. Thomas Braidwood (1715-1806) was the founder of the first school for deaf children in Edinburgh and then in London. His approach which he tried to keep secret (but failed in the end) used fingerpelling and speech a mixed method. Why was this important? Well, it created a huge adversity in approach which lasted in the first phase for a hundred years or so, until the conference of Milan in 1880 which launched the oral method as the only method to be used in schools in Europe.

In that period, Deaf school provision expanded rapidly from Edinburgh to London and then Birmingham and by the middle of the 19th century, almost all large cities in the UK had a Deaf school. Most of them had teachers who were Deaf themselves as well as hearing staff. Most had residences for the pupils to be boarders. It created the basis of the community. The education varied in its success but it was designed to lead to practical employment as carpenters, and shoemakers and seamstresses and so on. But just continuing with the educational theme One of the features of the schools was their stability. When a headmaster was installed, he was able to stay there for a very long time. Because of the rapid expansion of Deaf schools in the early part of the century, the head teachers were appointed quite young. Many remained in post until quite late in the century. Not surprisingly the methods used and the organisation itself, reflected the views of the older members of the staff. New ideas were absent and the schools slipped into decay and there was a lack of new initiative. Signing became associated with low achievement and institutionalisation. Charles Dickens was interested in Deaf education and he became a governor of the school in London - it is not clear how active he was but he did write about deaf education in Doctor Marigolds Prescription. However, a major change took place in the second half of the 19th century. Experiments with oralism (just speaking to the child and focusing on speech training) happened in the 1860s. What they found, perhaps not surprisingly was that the child who was taught individually was better in learning speech. So the early successes of this type of approach contrasted markedly with the slow development of deaf children in the schools - who also were slipping into deaf stereotype jobs. This apparent success was valued by parents and it was the parent lobby which began to give a fresh momentum to Deaf education. The movement went in two directions at once it decided to teach speech and it decided to make sure that the teachers were formally trained in method. There was no great tradition of teacher training - it was mainly the master-apprentice model. Since there were few masters who could teach oralism, the parents decided to set up their own college. The teachers organisation became the force behind the professionalisation of teachers. By the latter part of the century, all the meetings of head teachers discussed the need to develop training for the teachers. Such training was in the oral method and Deaf teachers were almost automatically excluded. But there were deafened people and also hard of hearing such as Alexander Graham Bells wife who shone out as examples of what oralism could achieve and these began to be spokespersons for this movement. They said that deaf people would speak if they could. As a result the battle for speech teaching was won at least for a hundred years. So who were the important figures in this? Interestingly, one of the key people was Alexander Graham Bell Scotsman and inventor of the telephone amongst other things. He made his fortune in the USA and was highly

respected. He put his full weight behind the idea of speech training (not surprising as that was his fathers occupation). He gave evidence to the Royal Commission for Deaf Education in the late 1880s and his views were accepted over those of the other expert Thomas Gallaudet, from Washington DC, where they had set up the only college in the world (now the only University in the world) for Deaf people. Alexander Ewing came to the fore with the setting up of the first training course at University (in 1915) in Manchester. He presided over the firming up of the oral method in the 20th century through changes in education from residential schools, to day school provision and then to the advent of pre-school guidance for families. Underpinning these developments was the technology of hearing aids which began to be available in the late 1930s and then to the general public (free) in the 1940s. This began to support Deaf children in attending mainstream schools which has now become the norm. Deaf schools have declined, support systems for mainstream schools and pre-schools have increased; hearing aids are the norm and newer technologies of cochlear implants and event genetic counselling are more common. These developments however were not supported by Deaf people. What does this mean Deaf people were not in favour of the changes in Education? For many, the Golden Age was when sign language was recognised as their language in school and where they were encouraged to develop adult societies - throughout the 19th century with particular peaks in the 1830s and 1880s. At these times, Deaf people were able to develop a sense of self-worth. They were more literate because of the use of fingerspelling and signing and although not fully accepted by society as w hole, they were able to live and interact within their own community. The changes in education meant that Deaf teachers lost their jobs and by the 1950s, Deaf children in school were unlikely ever to meet a Deaf adult and certainly never see a Deaf adult signing as part of their education. Did this have any benefits at all for the Deaf community? Sign language went underground and few hearing people ever learned. The Deaf clubs thrived - in every city in the UK there were meeting places for Deaf people where sign language was used. Deaf people played sports and set up local, regional and national events. The organised themselves into a national association (founded in 1890) which finally became completely governed by Deaf people with Deaf Chief Executive in the 1990s, Deaf people met their future partners through the Deaf clubs and regional rallies and international events. They created rich traditions and a culture which we begin to see today in drama and poetry. But there have been changes in Deaf education? Yes, by the 1970s, the same sort of dissatisfaction which occurred in the 1860s reasserted itself. Teachers became dissatisfied and the influence now from the USA which had

retained the signing tradition, was towards the inclusion of sign language in schools. Scandinavia too led the field in terms of Deaf teachers. By the mid 1980s more than half of schools for the Deaf had begin to use sign language in at least some classes. In the 1990s, this has given way to more bilingual approaches which provide both sign language and English within the curriculum . And also offer sign language training to parents. Deaf young people are now more likely to go on to Higher Education, are likely to have interpreters and will see sign language on television. Were there any famous people who were Deaf? The earliest records of deaf people in the UK are probably around the time of Bulwers book (1648) when he mentions about 25 deaf people that were known. However, there are records even further back. Edward Bone (1570) was a servant living in Cornwall. He was linked to another deaf man in a neighbouring village and it was known that they used sign language. Sir Edward Gostwicke (1630-1696) was a baronet, who inherited an estate at the age of 10 years. He had a deaf younger brother. As a deaf man, it seems his estate was spared during the English Civil War. Sir George Downing was a hearing politician from Kent who was able to use sign language and he is mentioned in Samuel Pepys writings. What is significant is that he came from the same area of Kent where the deaf people who went to Marthas Vineyard in America, were said to have lived. See Nora Groces book - Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language. Alexander Popham and Daniel Whalley were important in the 17th century as deaf people who were taught to speak. So they were shown off in public by their tutors. Richard Crosse (1742-1810) was a famous portrait artist who seems to have become wealthy from his work. There is a long account of his meeting with his cousin just before she died, in Jacksons book (Britains Deaf Heritage), and although there is no signing in it, it gives some indication of what a deaf person might have felt. John Goodricke (1764-1786) became deaf in childhood and was educated at Braidwoods Academy in Edinburgh. He became a famous astronomer and a Fellow of the Royal Society. However, he died very young, after catching a chill from working outdoors in the cold night air. Matthew Robert Burns (1798-1880) was the first deaf man to become a head teacher of a school for the deaf. He was born in Dundee but as his father was a major in the army, he moved to London and he went to the Old Kent Road School. He moved back to Edinburgh where he helped set up a deaf church. There seemed to be a very active community in Edinburgh at this time; there were deaf artists, and teachers. It is hard to know but it is almost certainly a result of the development of the school for the deaf which began in 1810. In 1834 he moved to Aberdeen as a head teacher. As far as we know this makes him the first deaf head teacher in the UK. From there he came to Bristol, the first deaf

headteacher in England. But he lasted only for two years; he left after he came into conflict with his management committee. Their main complaint seemed to be against his sister as housekeeper. Without his sister, he seemed to be lost as she interpreted for him. So if she had to go, he would not stay. He gave up teaching. He moved back to London and became a social worker (or the equivalent of that time) and was active as secretary of an organisation which led to the development of what became the RADD (Royal Association for the Deaf and Dumb). His work after Bristol was mainly religious and he taught only in bible classes but preached widely. James Howe (1780-1830) was an animal painter who became very famous. There is no account of his signing but he was deaf. He became an alcoholic and died in Edinburgh. Walter Geikie (1795-1837) was another artist. He was taught through fingerspelling by his father. He was educated in Edinburgh and was a star pupil. He was involved with Matthew Burns in setting up the deaf church. He died at an early age of 41. His paintings and etchings are still available. James Deaf Burke (1809-1845) was a young man who became a prize fighter. His claim to fame was that he became heavyweight boxing champion. But he had the misfortune of being involved in the first fight where someone died. He went to America and then returned to the UK. He died penniless. John William Lowe (1804-1876) was a deaf man who followed his fathers profession and became a barrister. He went to the Old Kent Road School and was a private pupil of the headteacher - Joseph Watson. He spent some time in Edinburgh as he was registered as a member of the deaf church there. He wrote down messages to hearing people but fingerspelled to his family - and probably signed to deaf people. He became a conveyancer - a specialist in house and property transfers. He learned many languages including Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He was ill in the 1870s and so missed out on major developments for deaf people at that time. John Kitto (1804-1854) is a well known name in the deafness field as he wrote a great deal in English. He became deaf after a fall from a roof at the age of 12 years. He wrote a book, The Lost Senses, where he explains his feelings about the loss of his hearing. He travelled a great deal and wrote about his visits to many countries as the Deaf Traveller. He was given an honorary doctorate in the University of Giessen. Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) was similar to Kitto in that she lost her hearing in childhood and made her name as an authoress. She wrote many books about her travels to the USA and was a well-known figure in the literary world. It is not clear that she ever associated with the deaf community but she was a public figure. Edward Kirk (1848-1917) was famous as a deaf teacher who became the headmaster of the Leeds school. He built it up from a few children to over 100 pupils and was praised by the Director of Education at his funeral. James Paul (1848-1918) was a Scottish deaf man who became deaf in infancy and was educated at the Glasgow School for the Deaf. He was one of the key people in proposing a National Association. He saw the priority as stetting up missions for deaf people

throughout the Country. He was said to be very upset when the first national association failed and although he was involved in the early development of the BDDA, he gave more of his attention to his work in Kilmarnock. George Frederick Healey (1843-1927) was a deaf man who became deaf through fever when he was very young. He had a private education. He was a key person in setting up the Liverpool Society for the Deaf. He was the secretary for over 50 years! He was a founder of the National Deaf Society and then Treasurer of the BDDA. Reverend Richard Aslett Pearce (1954-1928) was the first deaf person to be ordained as a clergyman. He set up the Winchester association and was said to meet with Queen Victoria who knew deaf people on the Isle of Wight. Samuel Bright Lucas (1840-1919) was a deaf artist who was educated in Bristol. He was very involved in the RADD and was not so keen on the national deaf association. He did not become part of the BDDA when it was formed. William Agnew (1846-1914) was famous for his paintings of Queen Victoria. He was educated in Glasgow and he used only sign language. However, he wrote a great deal about oralism and the problems. He was responsible for setting up the bazaar of 1891 which raised the money for the building of the Glasgow Institute. He was made a Director by the deaf people. Queen Alexandra married the Prince of Wales in 1863. She was deaf and used fingerspelling. She went to the deaf church in London and communicated with deaf people. This was supported by Queen Victoria as she had a friend who was deaf. Queen Victoria seemed very positive about deafness and allowed a number of schools to become Royal schools for the deaf. Who would you say was the one major figure for Deaf people? Francis Maginn (1861-1918) He was born in Mallow, Southern Ireland to a family which was well connected. His father was a vicar but his mother came from one of the leading families in Cork. They reserved a place for him at one of the top schools in England - Christs Hospital School. When he was 5 years old, he contracted scarlet fever and became deaf. As a result he was educated as a private pupil at the Institute in Bermondsey in London which was run by Rev. James Watson. He did not have to live or to mix with the ordinary pupils. He became part of an elite group of pupils. He went to school when he was 9 years old. He was an exceptional pupil and he learned quickly perhaps because he was taught individually. He was made a pupil teacher at about 14 years, and then later became an apprentice teacher at the Royal School for the Deaf in Margate. By the age of 17 years he was offered a Junior Teachership. He stayed there until 1883. He returned to Ireland for a year before going to Gallaudet College (the National Deaf Mutes College). His experience in Ireland was of deaf deprivation and so his stay at Gallaudet was a complete contrast.

Every deaf mute in the United States has it in his power to climb to a higher grade of attainment, and in the College at Washington the studious and earnest youth receives all encouragement. I never had the honour of mingling with such intelligent mutes until I entered this College. It had a great impact on the 23 year old. From this three year period he developed his major idea of an association on American lines and the development of real opportunity for deaf people. Although he did not finish the course at Gallaudet College, he was highly regarded and received supporting letters from the Institution. He left with a clear view about the injustice of the British approach to deaf education and a strong faith in what deaf people could do on their own. He must have been very impressed with his visit. It shaped his vision of the possibilities for deaf people and he came back to tell deaf people what was happening make them take part in the changes. More than anything it was Maginns vision which was important. He anticipated many of the aspirations of deaf people in the 1990s. He was invited to become the President of the first association to further the cause of the deaf and dumb throughout the UK. This set up a small association which had a magazine the Deaf Mute. It grew quickly but in the end despite the fact that it had very capable deaf people involved, it failed in 1889. It had managed to recruit 239 members. This was a significant year. The new association took shape during the period of the Paris centenary of the death of de LEpee the founder of the first school in France. At the same time, the report of the Royal Commission on Deaf Education was published. This was welcomed in that it ensured official deaf education, but it was outspokenly oral and dismissive of deaf marriage. Deaf people were outraged at the ideas expressed. Maginn had first hand knowledge of Alexander Graham Bell and he had made his views clear earlier. He was not able to give evidence to the committee but he wrote a lot. .know something of Dr Bell . The deaf mutes of the US recognise the fact that he is acting in all sincerity and with the best of intentions and that their esteem for him is not lessened by the contempt in which they hold his theories. The first national deaf conference took place in London in January 1890. Maginn proposed the adoption of the American combined system which was like Total Communication. He said he had been opposed to the teaching of speech until he went to America but was convinced by the practices at Gallaudet. At the age of 27 years, Maginn was asked to be the President of the first organisation in 1888. Although it failed Maginn continued to work for his goal and presented a draft constitution for the new organisation in 1890. This was presented to the first national deaf conference in St Saviours Church in London. They debated the Royal Commission Report and criticised it greatly. A steering group was set up and eventually the association was formed. Maginns views were accepted except for two aspects: he wanted it to be the National Association for the Deaf, and the steering group went for the British Deaf And Dumb Association (even though it was pointed out that in America they had dropped the word dumb altogether); and he wanted only deaf members, but they allowed hearing

friends who were proposed by 5 deaf people. The committee were prepared to allow hearing missioners and persons who can hear and take an active interest in the welfare and education of the deaf and dumb. The result was that William Sleight a last minute entry in the ballot, was elected as President - a hearing man who could sign. The committee met in Leeds to form the association. Maginn was given a regional vice-presidency - an honorary position with no real power. He could have kept his position on the committee but he was never really involved again. He objected to the benevolent paternalism of the hearing friends of the deaf. Maginn gradually withdrew from the Association - it would seem he was disillusioned. He became the head of the Ulster Institute. The BDDA finally dropped the extra D in 1970. He was given an honorary degree by Gallaudet College but confined his later years to work in Ulster. The BDA became dominated by hearing people, until Jeff MacWhinney was appointed in the 1990s. This is a lot of history . Is it being preserved in some way? Deaf people have become much more aware of their own heritage and are more likely to research and study it. There is now a British Deaf History Society (www.deafhistory.org.uk )and there are national and international gatherings on this subject. There have been discussions about setting up archives or a heritage centre but although there is progress sin some places, there has not yet become a major community development.