Partners in Education: Issues and Trends from the 21st International Congress on the Education of the Deaf

International Congresses on the Education of the Deaf, 1878 to 2005

InternationalCongressesonthe EducationoftheDeaf,1878to2005 Donald F. Moores and Amber Moore Educators and administrators of programs for deaf children began holding international congresses on the education of the deaf (ICED) in 1878. Since that first meeting in Paris, the congress has grown from a limited number of participants, who held somewhat parochial views, from a few countries in Europe and the United States to a global phenomenon with attendees and participants with truly universal perspectives and experiences from every continent. The contrast between the first congresses and the twenty-first (Partners in Education, held in 2010) illustrates the growing willingness of professionals to embrace diversity of opinions and exchange information and ideas within an atmosphere of mutual respect. In this chapter we present brief discussions of the first 20 congresses and considerations of some of the then topical issues addressed in each congress (see table 1.1). Richard Brill, in his text, International Congresses on Education of the Deaf: An Analytical History: 1878–1980 (1984), provided an excellent resource for information on the first fifteen congresses, and we refer the interested reader to that text for more details. 3 Table 1.1. International Congresses on the Education of the Deaf Congress Title Location Year 1 International Congress for the Improvement of the Condition of Deaf-Mutes Paris 1878 2 International Convention of 1880 Milan 1880 3 Third International Convention for the Amelioration of the Lot of Deaf-Mutes Brussels 1883 4 World’s Congress of Instructors of the Deaf and the Thirteenth Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf Chicago 1893 5 International Congress for the Study of Questions of Education and Assistance to the Deaf Paris 1900 6 Sixth International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Liège, Belgium 1905 7 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Edinburgh 1907 8 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf London 1925 9 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf West Trenton, NJ 1933 10 International Congress on the Care of the Deaf-Mute Groningen, the Netherlands 1950 11 International Congress on the Modern Educational Treatment of Deafness Manchester, England 1958 12 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Washington, DC 1963 13 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Stockholm 1970 14 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Tokyo 1975 15 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Hamburg 1980 16 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Manchester, England 1985 17 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Rochester, NY 1990 18 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Tel Aviv 1995 19 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Sydney 2000 20 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf Maastricht, the Netherlands 2005 21 International Congress on the Education of the Deaf: Partners in Education Vancouver 2010 International Congresses on the Education of the Deaf 5 First International Congress: International Congress for the Improvement of the Condition of Deaf-Mutes: Paris, France, 1878 The First International Congress was organized and supported by the Pereire Society, established by descendents of Jacob Pereire (Brill, 1984). Pereire had moved from Spain and Portugal to France and established oral education in that country. Although reputedly the first teacher of the deaf in France, in actuality he was second to a deaf teacher, whose name is unknown. In fact, Pereire’s first student, M. d’Azy d’Etavigny, had previously been taught in sign by this deaf teacher for 7 years (Seguin, 1932). The general purpose of the Pereire Society was to effect the general adoption of the oral method, and the society provided support for the Pereire School for Deaf-Mutes, an oral school in Paris. There were 27 attendees at the congress, 22 from France and a single attendee each from Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and the United States. With only two dissents, the congress passed a resolution that, while signs should be retained as an aid to instruction , preference should be given to articulation and lipreading (Fay, 1879). ThePereireSocietyappointedacommitteeof12toorganizethenextinternational meeting. Of the 12 members, 11 were from France (Gallaudet, 1881). Second International Congress The International Convention of 1889: Milan, Italy, 1880 The Convention of Milan has produced more conflict and more controversy than any other event in the history of the education of the deaf. There were significantly more delegates (164) at the conference than at Paris, almost 90% of whom were from either Italy (87...