Deaf History - 3 Obscure Facts

Deaf history had always intrigued me. I have taken a class at RIT called American Deaf History. I enjoyed it; the professor really went in depth and was very detailed. I wish it was a bit more expansive, but there's only so much you can do within 15 weeks.

Anyway, there are three obscure pieces of Deaf history that is lodged in my brain.

There was an attempt to create a Deaf-only state

In short, it failed because there was no way to guarantee a Deaf children, so what would we do with hearing children? The effort to establish a Deaf-only state was led by John J Flournoy.

Deaf Italian Kids in Milan

There was a Q&A session with Deaf kids who spoke perfectly during the Milan Conference. It was staged as, behind the scenes, they practiced for weeks and teachers refused new questions from strangers. Someone noticed because deaf children began speaking before teachers even finished asking questions.

The sole Deaf delegate at the Milan Conference, James Denison snuck behind the scenes and caught them signing.

George H.W. Bush wanted Gallaudet to have a Deaf president.

On March 1st 1988, Vice President George H.W. Bush wrote a letter to Gallaudet University. In the letter, he stated "Gallaudet has a responsibility to set an example and thus to appoint a President who is not only highly qualified, but who is also deaf." This letter was dated a few days before the Deaf President Now protests started.

(link to letter here)

I hope those fun facts were fun.