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The HfstoY(J if'DeqfEdumiion Ln(;,eeCe VENETTA LAMPROPOULOU o trace the history of deaf education in Greece and to examine the parameters that played an important role in it are rather difficult jobs, though my task may be easier than that of my colleagues from Spain, France, England, and Germany, where education of deaf children started earlier. But the history of deaf education must be examined, in a broader sense, through the whole history of deaf people. The existence of deaf people in ancient Greece and society's attitudes toward deafness are known mainly through the works of the Greek philosophers and writers of that period. Around 385 B.C. Plato was writing about the sign language of deaf Athenians ("Cratylus" from Dialogues). The general belief of that time appears to have been that children who were born deaf could not be educated. The conditions of deaf people in ancient Greek society, with the exception perhaps of the Spartan society, was not so bad as has been assumed by some educators (Moores, 1978). According to some reports, people with disabilities in classical Greece received an allowance, though this was not the case for slaves who were disabled (Lazanas, 1984). Aristotle is one of the most well-known, and often misinterpreted, philosophers to have dealt with the subject. He considered hearing the most important of all the senses because it contributes, he believed, to the mental development of man. He thought that hearing was the main organ of instruction. Aristotle also believed that deafness was organically connected with speechlessness. According to this idea, he assumed that damage to the hearing organs also causes damage to the speech organs (Aristotle, Problems ). In another book, Aristotle states that blind people are more mentally advanced than deaf people because blind people can communicate with their environment (The Senses). Aristotle's statements might have influenced some doctors and educators who, misinterpreting his ideas, assumed that deaf people could not be educated. Some writers and educators have condemned Aristotle for his ideas and held him responsible for keeping deaf people in ignorance for more than 2,000 years (Deland, 1931). The truth is that Aristotle never refers to the education of deaf children in his works. He only places a high importance on the sense of hearing for instruction, which generally speaking, is valid even today. He also states that a child deaf from birth will not learn to speak, which is also very often true today. In Plato's Dialogues, we also get some useful information about the status of deaf people in Athenian society. Socrates expresses the idea that thought is expressed by people through speech, except if someone is deaf or speechless. In these writings, the philosopher shows an awareness that deaf people don't speak, and he also makes a distinction between deafness and speechlessness ("Theatetus"). 240 THE DEAF WAY ~ Deaf History The first written statement about sign language is by Plato. Noting that sign language is a spontaneous tool, he states that even hearing people will use signs if they suddenly lose their speech ("Cratylus"). In another of Plato's Dialogues, Socrates, Hermogenus, and Cratylus talk about word-object correspondence and the arbitrary or natural symbols of this relationship. Here, Socrates is talking about sign language as a communication system used by deaf people ("Cratylus"). From Plato's Dialogues, we can assume that deaf people and sign language were very much accepted by Athenian society. This might not have been true for the Spartan society. In Sparta, according to Plutarch, all babies were inspected soon after birth, and the ones with disabilities were thrown in a gully of the mountain Tavgetus, known as Kaiadas or Apothetas (Plutarch, Lykurgus). Some writers had doubted Plutarch's description , but given the militaristic ideology of Lykurgus' Sparta, the pOSition of people with disabilities could not be so good as in other Greek cities of the same period. During the Byzantine epoch, asylums and orphanages were established, and children in need were cared for and protected. Some deaf children benefitted from these social and welfare programs, but education had not yet been provided for them (Lazanas, 1984). Development of the First Schools The education of deaf children in Greece began relatively late in comparison with other European countries, and its development has been slow. This delay can be attributed to a number of factors. One may have been the 400 years of Turkish occupation of Greece; others included the political, social, and economic priorities of...

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