I am glad that Cissy Andes wrote a
letter asking for more information on how Alexander Graham Bell almost wiped
out deaf culture. I had also wondered about this after reading a previous
chapter in the book. I still find it shocking that he was an advocate for
oralism considering his own wife was deaf!
“Although
he became a skillful signer and acknowledged the beauty of sign language, he
believed that speech was of supreme importance, and that deaf people should
assimilate into hearing society” (pg. 340). Since Bell was so passionate about
this, I wonder if he looked at his wife as having a “curse” and if she choose to
be on the speech path or did he choose for her?
It broke my heart to read that, “he proposed legislation against ‘the
intermarriage of congenital deaf-mutes’” (pg. 340). I think that is incredibly
cruel. It was sad that he also made sure his idea would work by adding the
following three rules (pg. 340):
1. Eliminating residential schools
2. Forbidding the use of sign language in the education of
deaf pupils
3. Prohibiting deaf adults from being teachers of deaf
children
The events that happened over these
years such as Deaf teachers losing their jobs, and signing students and oral students
being separated were awful (pg. 341). This must have been such a setback for
the Deaf culture to overcome.
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