Deaf History Ancient Times

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Deaf HistoryAncient Times   

• TutorialSocial Aspects of Deaf CultureSign
  Language Interpreter Training ProgramKirkwood
  Community College 

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• Objectives for Deaf History Unit
• Identify important events and people and
  ideologies in the development of Oral education
  for the deaf given information contained in the
  tutorial.
• Identify important events and people and
  ideologies in the development of manual education
  for the Deaf given information contained in the
  tutorial.

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• Vocabulary
• Manualism - education of the deaf using sign
  language, and the manual alphabet
• 2. Oralism - education of the deaf using speech
  and lip-reading

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• Deaf - a cultural and linguistic identity
  acquired by many deaf person which is viewed as a
  desirable and valued state-of-being.
• 4. deaf a term used to describe the inability
  to hear normal speech patterns and general sounds
  within the environment.

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5. Residential Institution - state school for
the deaf, state funded schools serving a regional
or statewide population of Deaf and
hard-of-hearing children. 6. Language - a
systematic form of communication which enables
its users to talk about anything, anywhere,
according to a system of grammatical rules which
are learned and internalized.  
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• American Sign Language - a natural,
  visual-gestural language  which is indigenous to
  North America with specific grammatical and
  linguistic properties.
• Congenital Deafness - deafness which is present
  at birth.

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• Deaf Community a community made up of Deaf and
  non-deaf people who share the goal of furthering
  the goals and interests of Deaf people and work
  collaboratively to that end.
• Hearing a term used within the Deaf Community
  to refer to non-deaf people who are basically
  misinformed or uninformed about the Deaf
  experience.

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• Pre-lingual deafness - the significant loss of
  hearing which occurs after birth, but prior to
  the time an infant acquires oral/aural language
  competence.  This is usually considered to be
  before the age of three.
• Post-lingual deafness -  the significant loss of
  hearing which occurs during adolescence, after
  oral/aural language competence has been acquired.
  

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Ancient History
All text is taken from the Encyclopedia of
Deafness, Gallaudet Press
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•     The people seemingly most interested in
  deafness in ancient times were philosophers, law
  givers, and physicians.  Their accounts reveal
  that the ancient world often recognized a
  connection between deafness and speechlessness.
  Some thought deafness indicated a curse from God.
  Others believed that the congenitally deaf
  person, invariably lacking intelligible speech,
  also lacked a soul and perhaps all ability to
  reason.  Two main beliefs emerged
• speech is a physiological function, so
  speechlessness is a medical problem or,
• speech is a function of a separate soul, so
  speechlessness requires a philosophical or
  theological remedy
•    

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Moses
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From classical times until the Enlightenment,
speechlessness and varying degrees of speech
problems were seen more as spiritual than
physical ailments as theologians and physicians
wrestled with the relationship of the body and
soul. Ancient Hebrew tradition, which recognized
each human as an entity, a unity created when
God's breath entered the simple clay, taught that
bodily impediments came from God. 
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In Exodus 410, Moses complains to God that he is
"slow and hesitant of speech," and so should not
be charged with liberating the Hebrews from
Egypt.  God replies, "Who is it that gives man
speech?  Who makes him dumb or deaf?  Is it not
I, the Lord?  Go now, I will help your
speech..."  In Leviticus 1914, the law states,
"You shall not treat the deaf with contempt." 
The Old testament foretold by Isaiah that deaf
people would hear and dumb persons speak. 
Centuries later, Jesus as the personification of
the Messiah was to heal those deaf and dumb.
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Questions1. Where did the main ideas
concerning the deaf come from according to this
time in history?2. What were the main prevalent
thoughts about the deaf disability or culture?
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Answers
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• From philosophers, law givers, and physicians.
• Prevalent thoughts about deafness were that it
  was a disability.