The History of ASL By Raymon Messing Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE The Ancient Greeks 1850 Deaf State 1864 The Enabling Act 1870 Alexander Graham Bell 1964 Phone for the deaf 1990 Deaf schools close Sep 17, 1994 Heather Whitestone Heather Whitestone was crowned as Miss America 1995, and was the first deaf woman to be crowned Miss America in the Miss America pageant.