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1000 BCE
Hebrew Law Denies Deaf Rights
In this time period, the deaf were forbidden for owning properties or businesses. There were strict laws about who a deaf person could marry. Additionally, they could not testify in court. However, if a Deaf person was injured, the person who caused it was punished accordingly. -
Period: 427 BCE to 237 BCE
Philosophy of Innate Intelligence with Plato
Plato incorrectly believed that all intelligence that a person has is present at birth, and there is no way to gain more after that. People only needed time to unlock it all. He also believed that speech was the only outward proof of intelligence in people. -
355 BCE
Ancient Greeks Deny Deaf Education with Aristotle
Aristotle believed that hearing was the only way for people to be educated. He also thought that hearing created the ability for someone to reason. He also saw Greek as the perfect language, and anyone who didn't use Greek to communicated were barbarians. Thus, he saw the Deaf as senseless, incapable of reason, and barbaric. -
Period: 345 to 550 BCE
Early Christians See Deafness as a Sin from St. Augustine during the Dark & Middle Ages
St. Augustine incorrectly told early Christians that being Deaf was a punishment from God for sin.This birthed the idea in the Dark and Middle Ages that Deaf people were possessed by demons. Many Deaf people were then put in asylums to be heavily watched and to not harm others. -
Period: 476 to May 1, 1453
Middle Ages
While religion was spreading throughout the world, Deaf people seemed to be excluded from the movement. Many people took the phrase "faith comes by hearing the word of God" literal, And since the Deaf could not hear, they believed they could not be saved or have faith and were being punished by God. -
Jan 1, 1500
Enlightenment Begins with the First Attempts at Educating the Deaf
Benedictine Monks throughout their life took a vow of silence to honor God. In their living quarters, they invented signs to communicate. Pedro Ponce de Leon, one of these monks, believed that the Deaf could be educated, and began teaching speech to those who were deaf since birth. He even taught Deaf children of nobility so they may inherit property. -
Feb 1, 1501
First Attempts at Educating the Deaf, cont.
Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy was a physician who recognized the Deaf had the ability to reason. He had a Deaf son, and proceeded to educate him. Cardano believed that Deaf people could be educated through a signed language and writing. -
First Well-Known Book of a Manual Alphabet Created
Juan Pablo Bonet was an early advocate for sign language and published the first well-known book depicting the alphabet through hands. -
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The Significance of Martha's Vineyard
Two hundred immigrants from Kent County England settled here. They carried both a recessive and dominant trait for deafness. Deaf children were born at a rate of 1 in every 155, as opposed to 1 in 1,000 nationally. In the mid-1700s, hearing and Deaf residents created a sign language to communicate which was used at all times, even in town hall meetings. The Deaf here had all the same rights as their hearing counterparts. -
Oral Education Began Taking More Strides
Samuel Heinicke was a German man who was a firm believer in oral education for the Deaf. In Germany, he opened the first oral deaf school in the world. He is credited for creating what is now called "The German Method", in which Deaf students learn to speak by feeling the throats of their teachers while the teachers speak. He often argued with Charles De L'eppe over teaching methods, as De L'eppe favored signing over oralism. -
Deaf Education in England
Thomas Braidwood opened the first school for the deaf in England. -
French Sign Language Established
Charles De L'eppe founded the first public school for the Deaf in the world in France.He believed that the Deaf could be taught through signs and fingerspelling. He is credited as being "The Father of Sign Language and Deaf Education." -
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Deaf Education Spreads Around the World
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Deaf Education in Germany
A German pastor by the name Arnoldi believed educating the Deaf should start when the child is as early as 4 years old. -
Deaf Education in Rome
Abba Silvestri opened the first school for the Deaf in Rome, Italy. -
Thomas Gallaudet's Contribution
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet became passionate about educating the Deaf, because his neighbor was deaf. He traveled to Europe to research education methods for the Deaf, which is where he found Laurent Clerc and the Paris School for the Deaf. He brought Clerc back with him to America to help him establish a school for the Deaf in Connecticut. -
A Little Deaf Girl Made a Difference
Alice Cogswell was the young Deaf neighbor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet who inspired him to search for a way to educate the Deaf in the most sensible and comfortable way for them. She was the first student to graduate from the American School for the Deaf. -
New York School for the Deaf established
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The First Deaf School in America Founded
The American School for the Deaf was founded by Thomas Galluadet and Laurent Clerc in Hartford, CT. Clerc brought in Old French Sign Language and merged it with signs already used here which laid the foundation for ASL to be formed. -
Pennsylvania School for the Deaf Established
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Kentucky School for the Deaf Established
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Ohio School for the Deaf Established
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Virginia School for the Deaf Established
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The Golden Age of Deaf Education
During this time period, ASL flourishes. Approximately, 40% of all teachers of the Deaf were Deaf themselves. -
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More Schools for the Deaf Established
More than 30 schools for the Deaf were established by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing teachers who graduated from the American School for the Deaf and Gallaudet, the school. -
A Deaf State is Proposed
John Flournoy, a former CT school student, proposed to congress that there be a Deaf state.That way the Deaf can control their own schools and their government and so they could avoid discrimination (both overt and covert) that only hindered them. -
Gallaudet College Opens
It was originally called the National College for the Deaf and Dumb and was the only accredited institution to offer college degrees to the Deaf. Abraham Lincoln signed the charter for it to become an official school. The first president of this school was Edward Miner Gallaudet, the son of Thomas Gallaudet. -
Alexander Graham Bell Promotes Deaf Education
The inventor of the telephone was born to a mother who was hard of hearing. His father, and then he, promoted educating the deaf through "visible speech" instead of through signs. -
Alexander Graham Bell Opens a Deaf School
Bell opens a Deaf school in Boston that educates the deaf through strictly oral methods. It receives a lot of backlash for its methods, and thus closes. -
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Deaf Players Make Changes in Baseball and Football
During this time period, Deaf people made important contributions to the sports world, in which their deafness was not seen as a handicap at all. In 1901, William "Dummy" Hoy gets the first Grand Slam in baseball's American League. The umpire invented hand signals to help Hoy understand the calls from the outfield.
Also, in the 1920s, the Gallaudet football team invents the football huddle to prevent other teams who might have known sign from getting looks at their plays. It caught on. -
The Conference of Milan
This international gathering of Deaf educators decided that oral methods of teaching the Deaf were far superior than manual methods. The US greatly opposed this ruling, but for a while after, manual education began to decline in its usage across the globe. Many Deaf teachers found themselves without jobs as oral methods increased in usage, and the Deaf teachers could not teach in that way. -
Helen Keller's Breakthrough
This is the year Helen Keller was born. Helen Keller was a young girl from Alabama who lost her sight and hearing at 19 months. At that young age, she hadn't established any language skills and many thought of her as unteachable and dumb.Her friend was able to expose her too language, with her first understandable word being water. She is the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor's of arts degree. -
Women Admitted at National Deaf-Mute College
In 1887, six women were admitted into the National Deaf-Mute College on a trial basis. In 1888, the admission of women became permanent at the school. In 1893, Agatha Tiegel was the first woman to earn a bachelor or art's degree from the school. -
Electric Hearing Aid Invented
Alonzo Miltimore from New York applied for the first US patent on an electric hearing aid. However, the first public use of an electric hearing aid wasn't until 1896. Alexander Graham Bell may have created on prior to that but he never pursued a patent.l -
National Deaf-Mute College Becomes Gallaudet College
The name of the National Deaf-Mute College w as changed to Gallaudet College to pay tribute and give honor to the Gallaudet family's contribution to Deaf education in America. -
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Deaf Employment Skyrockets
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Oralism Reaches Its Height
At this time, only 15% of teachers of the Deaf are Deaf themselves. -
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WW2 Creates A Need for Labor
With almost all the men in the United States away fighting the war, there was a lot of work left to be done in their absence. This allowed women and the Deaf community to have more opportunities in employment The need was greater than people's perception of what the Deaf could do. -
William Stokoe Defends ASL
The First Linguistic Book and defense of ASL as a language was written by William Stokoe, a hearing man and professor at Gallaudet University. He originally had a lot of backlash from the Deaf community, but upon viewing his work, they were more accepting. His paper was called "Sign Language Structure." -
Phone for the Deaf Invented
Using a phone line, a modem, and a typewriter, the Deaf were now able to use phone communication created by Robert Weitbretcht. They used the sounds of the keys that would pass through phone lines to the other person who would receive the sound in typed words. This invention was called the Teletypewriter or TTY. -
Oral Education Deemed A Failure
Congress sends out the Babbidge Report which expresses that oral education for the Deaf is a dismal failure. This encourages the rebirth of use of ASL in America and in educational facilities. -
Bernard Bragg Helps Deaf Theatre Take Shape
Bernard Bragg is a deaf actor and mime from New York who had an early love for theatre. He attended Gallaudet University and taught at the California School for the Deaf. He was later given the opportunity to go to Paris and learned the art of mime from renowned artists, and brought those skills back to the US -
National Theater of the Deaf Established
The NTD was established by Bernard Bragg and others. The theater did performances in both ASL and English as a way to entertain the Deaf in their own language and educate the hearing world on Deaf culture and ASL. -
Bilingual Education Act is Passed
Unfortunately, ASL was not included in this act, because the US did not recognize it as a language. -
Total Communication Leads to Mainstreaming
Oral methods and manual methods of teaching the deaf seem to merge. It becomes the foundation for educating Deaf students in mainstream public schools. -
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Signed English, Seeing Essential English, and SEE II Methods
In this time frame, these 3 adaptations of ASL mixed with more English structure and uses more letters. It helped to complement oral method and promote English skills. -
Program Captioning Introduced
"The French Chef" show on PBS in Boston became the first program to be nationally broadcast with captions. -
Disabled Gain Right to Equal Access
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed which grants all who qualify as disabled that receive federal funding. Accommodations must be made for any person with disabilities under this act. -
Census Done for Deaf Americans
The National Association of the Deaf conducted a census of Deaf Americans. They counted 1.8 million Deaf Americans in the country. The national census found that there were then 13.4 million hearing Americans in the country. -
Public Law 94-142 Created
This law guaranteed free and appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. It is a law with compliance required in all states across the country. This was made in hopes to increase efforts and efficiency in educating the Deaf. -
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Passed
This section prevented those with disabilities from being discriminated against and required all businesses, colleges, and organizations receiving state money to have building accessible for physically disabled people. -
The Signs of Language by Klima and Bellugi
Edward Klima and Ursula Bellugi created the first linguistics research on American Sign Language. -
A Deaf Cable Channel "Silent Network" is Born
It started broadcasting in 1981 to two million homes but broadened its reach over time. It ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.It was the first cable network for the Deaf. It was created and headed by Sheldon Altfeld. -
Deaf Mosaic
Deaf Mosaic began broadcasting from Gallaudet University in 1985 and lasted until 1995. It was hosted by Gil Eastman and Mary Lou Novitsky; it won multiple Emmy awards in producing and with the hosts. -
Cochlear Implants Approved
At this time, cochlear implants were approved by the FDA on a trial basis for Deaf people 18 years old or older. A lot of controversy stirred about the use of CIs among the Deaf community. Many saw it as people trying to "fix" deafness instead of embracing it and the culture it represents. -
First Deaf Actress Wins Oscar
Marlee Matlin is awarded the first Oscar to a Deaf person for her role in the movie "Children of a Lesser God." She wins the Academy Award for Best Actress. -
Congressional Report Published "Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf"
This report recommends that ASL be used as the primary way to educate the Deaf, with English being the secondary language. It also wanted ASL to be included in the Bilingual Education Act, but there was still much controversy about ASL being a full language. -
Deaf President Now Protest
In 1988, Gallaudet University was on the cusp of hiring its first Deaf president, but in a pool of three applicants with only one being hearing, the Board of Trustees chose the only hearing candidate while all were qualified. The furious and frustrated students protested for 8 days garnering support across the nation and the world. The students shut down the school. Eventually, the Board gave in, the hearing president resigned, and I. King Jordan became the first Deaf president of GU -
"Unlocking the Curriculum" Published
This curriculum was published by the Gallaudet University Linguistics Department. It denounces variations of sign mixed with English like SEE. -
"Signing Naturally" Curriculum Published
The book with accompanying videos was published, written, and produced by Deaf authors Ella Mae Lentz and Ken Mikos. -
Americans with Disabilities Act Passed
This law prevented discrimination of any kind for people with disabilities in employment, public service, telecommunications, and public accommodations. It also required most TVs to have decoder chips for closed captioning. It was the first civil rights law addressing people with disabilities. -
Deaf Schools Termed Restrictive
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act said that students with disabilities should be educated in the least restrictive environment. It was then said that deaf schools were a restrictive environment. Many deaf schools have to close because more deaf students are being placed in mainstream schools upon this decision. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Re-passed
The only real good that came out of this law was that more Deaf adults could get jobs as teachers in mainstream schools as enrollment for Deaf students rose in this environment. -
First Deaf Miss America Crowned
Heather Whitestone, a deaf woman born in Alabama won Miss America in 1995. She was the first deaf woman with this honor. She was raised orally, but recognized that being taught with oral methods or manual methods have their values and does not take away that she is a proud Deaf woman. Now, she has a cochlear implant and wants to share that message with anyone who is willing to learn. -
Use of Cochlear Implants Increases
Nucleus 22 device and SPEAK Speech Processing system was developed at the University of Melbourne in Australia. This was the latest technology advances in implantation and was able to be used in children and babies at least 2 years old. 12,000 people were implanted from this year. Parents opted for CIs to help their children be involved in mainstream schools and thrive in a hearing world. -
FCC Rules on Captioning
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released new captioning rules for the broadcast and cable television industry. It says all television programs must have closed captioning. -
Deaf Contestant Competed on "Survivor"
Christy Smith, a graduate from Gallaudet University, competed on Survivor. She won 6 challenges and lasted 33 out of 39 days on the show. -
Deanne Bray Takes Strides
Deanna Bray was a prominent Deaf actress and television star. She was born deaf, but does use one hearing aid in her left ear. She had a lead role in the TV show, F.B.Eye on the Pax Channel. She is bilingual in both ASL and English. -
Curtis Pride's Homerun for the Deaf Community
Curtis Pride grew up deaf, but he was taught orally. He is a professional Deaf baseball player. He was an outfielder in the MLB and played for the Yankees for most of his career. He showed people that deafness could not hinder anyone from excelling in sports. He stood out as a beacon for inclusion being both black and Deaf, standing on the shoulders of William Dummy Hoy, a Deaf baseball player in the early 1900s. He is now the head baseball coach at Gallaudet. -
First Deaf Contestant on Dancing with the Stars
Marlee Matlin became the first Deaf contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2008. She was paired with pro, Fabian Sanchez. She was the 6th person eliminated from the show. People were amazed with how she could perform the dances without being able to hear the music, and showed the world there are truly no limits to what Deaf people can do. This was further confirmed when Nyle DiMarco became the 2nd Deaf contestant and 1st Deaf winner on the show in 2016. -
Switched at Birth Airs
In 2011, Switched at Birth aired - a show revolving around two girls, Bay and Daphne, who at age 16 find out they were switched at birth in the hospital by negligent nurses. Daphne lost her hearing due to meningitis when she was 3, & began learning sign language and attending a school for the Deaf. The show is created as being the first mainstream television series to have Deaf & hard-of-hearing regulars on the show & have scenes in all ASL. From it, many people learned about Deaf culture & ASL. -
Switched at Birth Airs Episode in Only ASL
In 2013, Switched at Birth made the groundbreaking decision to have an episode air in only ASL with captions provided for those who did not know ASL and/or couldn't keep up with the constant signing.The episode also paid homage to the Deaf President Now movement at Gallaudet in 1988, but having the students stage a similar protest when their school faced threat of closure.
