French Deaf History in LSF

A 9 minutes subtitled video posted here of Guy Bouchauveau, a deaf Frenchman, signing in LSF (with some ASL), about his own story of French deaf history from the beginning of Epee to today (1992).  Charles Katz introduces the video by discussing his own copy of Bouchauveau's drawing of French-American deaf history and several important names in French deaf history mentioned by Bouchauveau.

A visual and learning treat for all.

For those who want to study the drawing, here it is.  A brief description follows.

At the bottom right is a partial view of the I.N.J.S., the deaf school in Paris, considered roots to American deaf education through the hands clasped upward.  At the treetop are drawings of Clerc at the far left, Tower Clock at Gallaudet, M.S.S.D., and the U.s. Capitol.  At the far left are lips and 1880 (symbolizing the Milan Congress) splattering hands into drops of blood downward.  Above is Epee with Alice Cogswell (Thomas Gallaudet's first pupil) above him.

*********************

And, thanks to a friend who emailed me about Guy which led me to google more about him and found this video of Guy expressing support during the 2006 Gallaudet protest. Am embedding the video below.  You can see him signing a bit more in LSF.  And you can see the improvement of the inner courtyard of the deaf school in Paris as compared to 1992 when I first videotaped it. Enjoy the video.

Clerc's School in Paris

This 8 minutes video is about my 1992 visit to Laurent Clerc's school in Paris, France. Please remember that that was how the school looked like in the summer of 1992. I was able to stay in the school for one week, sleeping in a small room way up on the top floor or in the attic, thanks to Alexis Karacostas, who arranged for my stay.

Because of my extended visit to the school, I was able to visualize many scenes in the 5th chapter of the Deaf Child mythology, titled Siepee's Monastery. To view the mythology, please click on this link.

My 1992 deaf history research trip to Europe was partially made possible by a grant by GUAA's Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund at Gallaudet University.

To see how the school (I.N.J.S.) looked like today, please click on this link to go to their website.

Click away and enjoy visiting the Paris school where Laurent Clerc was educated and where he taught for several years before he moved to America in 1816 with Thomas Gallaudet.

Deaf Truffaut on l'Epee

This is a 2 minutes video clip of a French deaf historian, Bernard Truffaut, signing in LSF the story of how l'Epee met the two deaf girls, an event which led him to establish the world's first public manual (signing) school for the deaf in Paris.

This event is considered a French deaf "genesis" legend very much comparable to the American deaf "genesis" story of Thomas Gallaudet meeting Alice Cogswell in Hartford, Connecticut. Both "creation" or "genesis" events resulted in the establishment of schools which, in turn, had standardized sign languages and created deaf communities - a pattern common to almost all deaf communities in the world.

This video (the Epee legend) also serves as a historical background of the metaphors used in the second video clip in the 5th chapter, Siepee's Monastery, of the Deaf Child mythology. Click here to go to that clip.

The video was shot in a cafe in Orleans, France during the early summer of 1992. Much gratitude goes to Bernard who was willing to sign out his own sacred story to me.

Grave of the Father of German Oralism

This is an one minute clip of the grave site of Samuel Heinicke, the Father of German oralism, in Liepzig, Germany, videotaped in the summer of 1992.

Written on the headstone in German and translated word for word in English:

1720 - 1790  Grundete 1778 in Liepzig die erste taubstummenschule der welt die ehre schuler sprechen lehrte.

1720 - 1790  Founded 1778 in Liepzig the first deaf mute school in the world in honor scholar teaching speech.

Anyone who know English and German, please feel free to correct my poor English translation of the German inscription by adding comments below.  I will revise accordingly.

And let me expand on what was signed in the video way back in 1992. 

The oral method before the 20th century were kept secret in fear of losing "business".  Back then, teaching the deaf to talk was considered almost impossible and miraculous.  The Heinicke family in Germany, the Braidwood families in England, and Jacob Periere in France did not freely share how they taught the deaf to speak because they did not want to lose "customers" to other schools who might copy their methods.

Epee and Sicard in France went the opposite.  They freely shared their manual method.  Thomas Gallaudet, fresh from America in 1814 visited the Braidwood school(s?) in England and did not have favorable impression (and reception).  Later on, he met Sicard, Massieu, and Clerc in London. Gallaudet then went to the deaf school in Paris which resulted in bringing back Laurent Clerc to America.  The rest is history.  

We could go "what if" about the different outcome if Gallaudet brought the oral method from England.  We should be grateful that the oral educators were secretive about their method!

For more information, see Harlan Lane's book, "When the Mind Hear".

Oral Heinicke School in Germany

The first post of a deaf history site visited in the summer of 1992.

This short, edited, and subtitled video of a visit to Samuel Heinicke Schule in Liepzig, Germany where the German oralism began. The school was in its summer session but I was able to bump into a teacher there who was happy to give me a tour of the school. Next video will be the gravesite of Samuel Heinicke.