1. Deaf History & Important People

2. In the Beginning… B.C.
Ancient Greeks deny deaf education – 355 BC
The philosopher Aristotle claims that "Deaf people could not be educated [since] without hearing, people could not learn."

3. Early Christians A.D.
St. Augustine tells early Christians that deaf children are a sign of God's anger at the sins of their parents.
Hearing and speaking - Benedictine monks take vows of silence to better honor God. To communicate necessary information, they develop their own form of sign language.

4. Early Deaf Education 1500’s
Renaissance Europe sets the stage for the first attempts at educating the deaf.
The physician Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy, attempts to teach his deaf son using a code of symbols, believing that the deaf can be taught written symbolic language.

5. Early Deaf Education 1500’s
Pedro Ponce De Leon – Considered the first deaf teacher. He was Benedictine monk, who successfully teaches speech to people deaf.
He invents signs to ‘get around’ the vow of silence.

6. Early Sign Language 1600’s
The workings of Pedro Ponce De Leon leads Juan Pablo Bonet, an advocate of early sign language, to write the first well-known book of manual alphabetic signs for the deaf in 1620.

7. Martha’s Vineyard 1690-1880 Settlement of immigrants from England.
25% of the population have hearing problems – genetic.
During this time, the settlers develop their own form of sign language.
Such a large population, town meetings are signed.
Beginning of deaf culture in America

8. Pierre Desloges 1742 Desloges was from the central part of France
At the age of 7, he got smallpox which caused a high fever and his deafness.
The disease also caused him to lose almost all his teeth which limited his ability to speak French.
He relied on writing and poor pronunciation.
He had limited education.

9. Pierre Desloges 1742
He describes his life as cruel, full of discrimination
His parents didn’t believe he could learn a trade.
Relatives & neighbors treated him as an insane, stupid, horrible and offensive person.
At the age of 19, he arrived in Paris

10. Pierre Desloges 1742
At the age of twenty-seven years old (in 1769), Desloges learned sign language for the first time.
His “teacher” was a man, who worked as a servant in some wealthy homes, was deaf from birth.
Sign language “this useful art” allowed him to communicate with other deaf people in Paris.15
1779 became the first deaf man to publish a defense of sign language.