FIRST COLLEGE OF THE DEAFIn
the third year of the Civil War, there isn’t much to look forward to.
In a time of distress, nothing seems possible, but yesterday was
something different. April 8th, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln approved
the Columbia Institution college status. This action, although
unnecessary, made the Columbia Institution the first college for the
deaf. Many people look down upon the deaf and think that they are dumb.
However, many can not say this because of the fact that Edward M.
Gallaudet is allowed to award degrees to his students. This shows that
the deaf community is to be respected in a huge way, considering that
Abraham Lincoln signed the bill.
Edward
Miner Gallaudet didn’t always want to be the president of the Columbia
University (later called Gallaudet University, in honor of E. M.
Gallaudet’s father Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet). In fact, he wanted to be a
banker. His father encouraged him to become a teacher of the deaf, but
still lead Edward in the right direction. After his father died, a man
named Amos Kendall told Edward about an opening as a superintendent of a
school. He took it and became very successful. After that, Edward was
looked at as having an altruistic soul; a colleague once said, “Several
times when Dr. Gallaudet wanted appropriations, while I very much
desired his success, I felt that he had undertaken more than could be
accomplished; but somehow, under the influence of that earnest zeal,
that even temperament, and the strong arguments which have always
characterized his efforts, before the close of the session he would get
practically what he desired.” Edward Gallaudet does everything in his
power to make his college the best it can be to his staff and his
students. He is a selfless person that wants to improve the community
and the standards of the deaf.
Edward’s
story goes back before he was born. His interest with the deaf started
long ago as well. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet saw a little child standing
in a playground. He wonderd why she wasn’t doing anything. He went over
to her, and noticed that she couldn’t hear. He began to gesture to her.
That little girl’s name was Alice Cogswell. Thomas helped her learn new
things. He was later approached by a man named Laurent Clerc who was
from France who taught Thomas a new form of Sign Language to teach. They
established a new school and it attracted a lot of students of many
different varieties and backgrounds. This was the beginning of a new era
of Sign Language.
A “UNIVERSAL” LANGUAGE Sign
Language was not always here. Sign Language was not always popular.
Sign Language was not always used. But, it’s different now. From France
we have a whole different language. It’s helped so many people learn to
communicate their ideas through so many different outlets such as
schools, jobs, and other things.
Laurent Clerc was the best student in the Institution Nationale des
Sourds-Muets, and he was taught by Abbe Sicard. With Thomas Hopkins
Galluadet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America.
Since then, sign language has really taken off. In Martha’s Vineyard,
which is an island off the coast of Massachusetts, has one of the most
famous population of deaf people. Through inbreeding and a genetic
mutation deafness became present and was around for over 250 years.
Sign Language is continued to be thought of as a universal language,
when its not. Though people all over the world sign, there is no one
language for all the deaf. In Brittan, there is British Sign Language,
in Australia, there is Australian Sign Language. Even though signing is
worldwide, there are different variations of the language.
Because of Laurent Clerc and the doings of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet,
there wouldn’t be a standing for the deaf in America. Right now
Gallaudet is the only deaf college in the world, and it’s home to many
of the deaf population who want to go out and make something of
themselves. Gallaudet University would not be here if it wasn’t for the
collaboration of Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, in addition
to his son, Edward Miner Galludet. CLOSED CAPTIONING
It’s 1972, and accomplishments for the deaf are sort of unheard of.
However, yesterday, a huge event happened for the deaf community and
those who are hard of hearing. The first television show that now has
closed captioning is The French Chef on PBS. This is a monumental
achievement for the deaf community. Other shows that have these features
Zoom, Once Upon a Classic, and ABC World News Tonight.
Deaf are now flocking to the stores to buy their new decoders to
transmit the closed captioning onto their televisions. Due to this surge
in appliances, the companies who provided the decoders did not want to
sell more, until more people bought them. But the people did not want to
buy them until there were more closed captioned shows. It’s a chicken
and the egg situation.
Although the deaf liked the closed captioning, they wanted more
programs to have this amenity for them. Later, though the companies who
provided closed captioning gave more shows that had the captions on
screen.
The deaf were pleased about the fact that they could access more shows
that had closed caption. There wasn’t anyone who was against this, since
a lot of people can benefit from words being on screen. Not only did
the deaf benefit but people who didn’t know English could learn how to
speak it/read it. It’s an amazing accomplishment and it’s going to be
around for a long time.
