1817

By Natalie Hannans

  • 1817

    In 1817 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc established the American School for the Deaf. This is the first school for the Deaf and Dumb in the United States.The school was located in Hartford, Connecticut. On April 15, 1817 Alice Cogswell was the first of seven students to enroll. It was called the Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was the principal, and Laurent Clerc was the head teacher.

  • 1829

    The New England School for the Blind was founded in 1829, and incorporated March 2, 1829. It was later named Perkins School for the Blind. The school was found by Samuel Gridley Howe. The school was the first school for the blind established in the United States.

  • 1834

    Louise Braille, who was blind at the age of three attended the Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. At the age of twenty, Louis Braille published his idea of using dots for the alphabet for the blind.

  • 1848

    In 1848, Dr. Howe, director of the Perkins School for the Blind, established the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth, which was an experimental boarding school in South Boston for youth with intellectual deficiencies. Dr. Howe believed in family and community. Therefore, Dr. Howe wanted their schools to prepare children with disabilities to live in the community.

  • 1858

    Dempsey Sherrod, a blind man from Mississippi, came up with the idea of a printing house for books for the blind. In 1858, Sherrod obtained a charter in Mississippi to establish a publishing house to print books. The books printed were raised letters and were printed in Louisville Kentucky. The General Assembly of Kentucky passed an Act to establish The American Printing House for the Blind in 1858. Fables and Tales for Children was the first book produced by American Printing House.

  • 1864

    The National Deaf Mute College was established. The opening day was in September, 1864, with 13 students enrolled. Edward Miner Gallaudet was the first president of the College and continued to service until 1910.