Deaf Education Research Paper

Education is easily one of the most taken for granted privileges of the modern world. What is seen now as a form of mental torture by the average student was not even an option for people with hearing disabilities for a long time. Before the early 19th century, it was believed by a large percentage of the U.S. population that deaf individuals could not be educated. This was primarily because hearing people could not communicate with deaf people. Because of the communication barrier, unfair assumptions were made about the mental abilities of those who were deaf. This would all begin changing because of a worried father’s search for a good education for his daughter. Though it was a long time in coming, the American School for the Deaf would …show more content…
In Hartford, Connecticut on April 15th, 1817, the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opened (Crowley). Its original location was the Bennett’s City Hotel. The school first began with seven pupils (Hartford). Their names were Alice Cogswell, George Loring, Wilson Whiton, Abigail Dillingham, Otis Waters, John Brewster, and Nancy Orr. In the first year, this number increased to thirty-three students (“A Brief History of the American Asylum”). “Dumb” at that point in history only implied that one could not speak (Crowley). However, since in this time in America deaf individuals learning to communicate beyond limited “home-made” signs was rare, there was also the assumption of cognitive impairment as well. The Connecticut Asylum helped change that wrongful assumption. Due to the challenging nature of travel in 19th century America, the school began as a residential school. The Connecticut Asylum would receive $5,000 from Connecticut Legislature. This was the first public funding given for education in America (“ASD History”). Initially given in 1819, this funding became an annual grant to the school. In 1820, the federal government gave aid to the school in the form of land in the Alabama Territory resulting in the first example of federal aid given towards special education (elementary and secondary). This 23,000-acre land grant helped make the Connecticut Asylum the first permanent school for the deaf in America (“A Brief History of the American Asylum”). After this grant, the school was renamed to the American School for the Deaf (Crowley). America finally had a lasting, suitable school for the education of deaf