Deaf Empowerment: Emergence, Struggle, and Rhetoric

2 A History of the Deaf Community in America

2 A HistoTyof theDeafCommunity inArnerica A study of the Deaf social movement presumes the existence of a community of Deaf people. A number of questions then arise: How did such a community come into being? What factors played a part in its evolution? What is the pattern of life for such a community? What are the ingredients that foster the continued existence of this community? An overview of the historical events chronicling the development of the Deaf community provides context for the issues faced by the Deaf social movement. Educational institutions have played a central role in the lives of Deaf people. While for most people school is primarily a place to secure an education, for Deaf people, school means much more. For many Deaf people, school is where they meet other Deaf people, often for the first time; at school they develop socialization patterns and friendships that frequently last throughout their lifetimes; there they meet spouses, acquire a language that accommodates their visual orientation, and become a part of a culture that extends beyond the school years. The educational system, thus, in its early years, offered an opportunity for Deaf people to build a community, and eventually became the mechanism through which the Deaf social movement would thrive. While the beginnings of the education of Deaf people provided a foundation for community building, outside forces to stimulate educational changes in ensuing years provoked resistance from the Deaf community. As these forces sought to defuse the Deaf community, the Deaf social movement came into 19 20 A History of the Deaf Community in America being. Even as educational reforms were sought or implemented, resistance from the Deafmovement has served to create a bonding and a strengthening of community. As a result, educational institutions have been instrumental in the inception of the Deaf community, as well as providing sustenance to the community in the face of practices that might otherwise serve to divide the community. The Inception of Community The Deaf community evolved in the United States in the nineteenth century, when educational institutions for Deaf people were formally established. Prior to the nineteenth century, educational practices for Deaf people in the United States were limited. Some families who could afford the expense sent their Deaf children abroad to countries that provided instruction speCifically for Deafstudents. Moreover, the only known "congregation" ofDeaf people in America existed on Martha's Vineyard. There, however, Deafpeople mingled freely with hearing people who, for the most part, also communicated in sign language, so life for Deaf people on the island was an integrated community, rather than a separate community of Deaf people (Groce 1985). Most Deaf people probably lived in relative isolation prior to the establishment of educational facilities. Mter all, unlike on Martha's Vineyard, most hearing people did not sign. Laws that prevailed during the early 1800s also suggest that people who did not speak were perceived to be not as competent as their hearing counterparts (Higgins 1988). In New York, for example, Deaf people could not vote. Many states ruled that Deaf people could not be held responsible for criminal acts. Ship owners arriving in the United States were required to report any Deaf people on board and to pay a bond to prevent them from becoming public charges. Several states enacted similar laws to prevent carnivals from bringing Deafpeople with them into towns only to abandon them (Best 1943). Consequently, the United States did not consider the pursuit A History of the Deaf Community in America 21 of education as a worthy endeavor for Deaf people until the nineteenth century. The first permanent school for the "deaf and dumb" was established in 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut, largely through the efforts of three men. Mason Fitch Cogswell had a Deaf daughter, Alice, who attracted the attention of neighbor Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. Gallaudet was a minister who apparently took interest in Alice as a result of his missionary ventures. Cogswell persuaded Gallaudet to go abroad to study the available educational practices for Deaf students, with the aspiration of establishing a similar endeavor in the United States. In England, Gallaudet encountered frustration in his dealings with the Braidwoods, the family that dominated the formal education of Deaf people in the area. The Braidwoods, who practiced oralism (the use of speech and speechreading) in their teachings, viewed their work as a profit-making venture and preferred to keep their craft a family secret...