People with Disabilities--Deaf Persons

A deaf person is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a person who is "unable to hear, either completely or partly" (Cambridge Dictionary). As with many other disabilities, the treatment and education of the deaf took an increasingly institutional, state-sponsored approach throughout the nineteenth century. Early American deaf education sought primarily to teach deaf persons just enough to accomplish religious purposes like reading the Christian Bible. However, in 1817, Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet established what became the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut. At this school, the deaf were taught not only how to read and write, but how to communicate in French Sign Language (FSL), a precursor to modern American Sign Language (ASL). This approach was adopted by other schools that opened more frequently throughout the United States later in the nineteenth century. Their approaches generally focused on training deaf persons to become good national citizens, rather than just good Christians as had earlier schools. Schools for the deaf remained cut off from others, making attendance at them an isolating experience, yet the nineteenth century generally saw an improvement in the treatment and education of deaf persons. CWRGM adopts the people-first tag "Persons with disabilities--Deaf persons" to emphasize the personhood of those with deafness over their condition (Britannica).