Alice Cogswell Research Paper

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For my Deaf Person in History, I chose Alice Cogswell. I will be honest, before I started this paper, I had never heard of Alice Cogswell. I chose her because I have always loved the name Alice. However, now that I have read about her, I can truly see how important she was to the deaf people. Alice Cogswell was born in Hartford, Connecticut on August 31, 1805. When she was two years old, she got extremely sick with cerebral spinal meningitis, also known as “spotted fever”. It was because of this illness that she lost her hearing and eventually her speech as well. A man named Thomas Gallaudet moved next door to Alice and her family when she was nine years old. When he realized that she was not socializing with any of the other children, he inquired as to why. He was told by Alice’s father, Mason Cogswell, that she was in fact deaf, but that she did interact with the family through an unsophisticated way of communication; however Mr. Cogswell wanted more for his daughter. Thomas decided to take Alice under his wing and started to teach her how to read and write by drawing letters and words in the dirt. Even though Alice was learning to read and write; Thomas knew that he did not know the best way to teach a child that was deaf. Seeing the success that Thomas was having with Alice, Mr. Cogswell, as well as Thomas knew that she needed to be in a formal school, unfortunately there was not a school for deaf people at the time. Because of Mr. Cogswell being the son of a governor of Connecticut, a very talented surgeon, as well as an influential member of the Connecticut society, he was able to raise money so that Thomas could go to Europe to study techniques for teaching deaf people. Their goal was for Thomas to come back to America and establish a school for the deaf. While Thomas was in Europe, Alice attended …show more content…
I feel that it is actually a huge success story, Based on the fact that before the 1800s, the deaf were treated as if they had a mental illness and as if they were unable to learn. If it weren’t for Alice meeting Thomas Gallaudet and inspiring him to find a way for her and other deaf people to be able to get a proper education, the deaf might have never had the same opportunities that hearing people have. I truly think it is amazing that a young man was so inspired by a deaf nine year old girl, that he was determined to make it possible for her and other deaf people to get a proper education. There is a statue of Thomas and Alice on the campus of Gallaudet University. The statue is of him seated in a chair with her standing beside him and they are both doing the letter “A” in fingerspelling. There is something that the Gallaudet University Alumni Association does that I think is absolutely amazing, and that is that they have an award called the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund Alice Cogswell Award. It is awarded to people that have provided a valuable service for deaf citizens. I. King Jordan’s famous quote, “Deaf people can do anything hearing people can do, except hear.” And from everything I have read, Alice Cogswell is a perfect example of this quote. I really did enjoy learning about Alice and the things

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