Monday, April 2, 2007

Deaf History

While researching Deaf Culture, I came across a timeline that explained some of the history of deaf culture. At first I wasn't too interested, but after reading a little of it, I was very moved. The timeline dates back as far as 1000 B.C. and some of the things that were done to deafs were just horrible.

The first record of deaf history occured in 1000 B.C. when deaf people were forbidden to own land. Also on the timeline, you see other forms of discrimination towards deaf people. Deafs were considered barbarians, were committed to asylums, rejected from churches, were thought to be possessed by demons, etc. Some of the things that deaf people endured and names that were given to them were just awful. People rejected the unfamiliar back then and were scared of the idea of someone not knowing how to speak or hear. They did not realize then that it is not unnatural for someone to be deaf, and that no one chooses what they are to be.

Also on the timeline, there are some good things that occur. For example, finally in the 1500's deaf education began to grow. It still took quite awhile for deaf education to become accepted, but there were a few famous names that stand out today for standing up for the deaf then.

The timeline that I used went from 1000 B.C. to 1996. It was fascinating to learn about some of the history of deaf life. I can't believe that deaf people were treated so badly at one point in time. Just because they were different, and people did not understand them, does not give anyone the right to ridicule and discriminate against them. I was also very happy to see that deaf education started much earlier than I thought. At first I believed that deaf education was fairly new to our world. However, I was mistaken and learned that there were many people that stood up for what was right and worked together to make the gap between hearing and deaf better so long ago.

The website I used for this post is http://www.aslinfo.com/trivia5.cfm.

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