Laurent Clerc

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complex language communicated through intricate signs made by a person’s hands with many different facial expressions, positions of the body, and other gestures. The language is most commonly used by the deaf population in United States, and English-speaking parts of Canada, and in certain parts of Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Since ASL is seen as an authentic and definite language, it has many variations such as Spanish and French. There is no set form of sign…

After American sign language was first brought to the United States they were finally able to communicate with the deaf. Before 1816, no one knew how to communicate with people who were deaf. Thomas Gallaudet tried helping a little deaf girl learn when her father decided to have Gallaudet go to Europe to learn techniques. Through his efforts of teaching deaf children, Thomas Gallaudet brought American sign language in the United States as well as creating a deaf college. Thomas Gallaudet went…

Jane Fernandes has an interesting and dynamic history in the Deaf community. In Worcester, Massachusetts, she was born Deaf to a Deaf mother and hearing father. She did not immediately start to learn American Sign Language – her mother taught her how to speak, and she became a very proficient lip-reader. It wasn’t until she entered graduate school at the University of Iowa that she began to learn how to sign. Fernandes has overcome a lot of adversity in her professional life. Surprisingly enough…

Through Deaf Eyes was an extremely enlightening documentary about deaf life in America. The film begins with the question, what do you think it would be like being a deaf person? They explain that, whenever you ask a hearing person this question they respond with a lot of “can’ts”. I can’t, I can’t I can’t. Deaf people, however, do not think like that, they think of all the things they can do. They presented these statements: All deaf people use Sign Language; Sign Language is universal; Deaf…

such as idioms. American Sign Language is a visual-gestural language currently being used by approximately 250,000-500,000 Americans of all ages (Baker-Shenk 47). The language was developed from French Sign Language through the collaboration of Laurent Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet in 1817 (Shaw 158). Before this time, there…

The history of the deaf society constitutes not only a culture but a society intertwined with a unique way of communicating using facial movements and hand gestures to convey emotions, thoughts, and needs. Throughout history, the view of deaf people has been seen as gifts from God to the oppressed and shunned. Deafness consists for two reasons; conductive hearing loss and sensorineural hearing loss. Conductive hearing loss occurs when sounds cannot make it to the inner ear, sensorineural…

Section one Preface Seeing Voices is a mind opening book that gives you different lenses to look through. Oliver Sacks, the author explains the introduction of sign language, the roots of learning language, and one of the greatest historic moments in deaf history. At first, he had no curiosity in sign language or deaf culture. However, this changed when he read a book about the history of deaf. He discussed this subject with a colleague, who has work with many deaf people. Oliver Sacks then…

In Aaron Kelstone's play, 25 Cents (2023), the audience is presented with a thought-provoking confrontation between Deaf characters who engage in a heated debate about what it means to be Deaf and the boundaries of acceptable behaviour within Deaf culture. This play provides a unique opportunity to delve into the complexities of Deaf identity and culture, as well as to consider how disability studies can offer a critical lens through which to analyse and challenge assumptions within the text.…

The Registry of Interpreters of the Deaf (RID) complied information into this article about educational interpreting. This article gives great back ground information about the qualifications, skills, certification needed, the interpreter’s role, professional conduct, duties of the interpreter may face, briefly describes the laws in place for education, and covers what an Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) is. This article is a great overview of the standard practice of…

school. On April 15, 1817 in West Hartford, Connecticut the first American School for the Deaf was open. The very first person to become a teacher of the deaf in America was Laurent Clerc. They called him “ The Apostle of the Deaf in America”. He was from France, Thomas taught him English and he taught Thomas sign language. Clerc died in 1869 at the age of 84 in…