Sound Of Silence: Deaf Education Today

“Hello, this is AT&T calling about your local phone service…”

The telephone.

Where would we be without it today? With our dependance on communication, whether it’s around the corner or across the globe, it would be nearly impossible for us to imagine a time without this extrodrdenary aid. However, there was a time, believe it or not, when the telelphone was a concept that was laughed at. Who on earth could make sound a voice travel a distance, much less countless of miles, with the help of a transmitter, receiver and some wire. Well, as we know, Alexander Graham Bell was just such a visionary who found that this was possible and we went out to prove it. And so, to many hearing people, Alexander Graham Bell is a hero and genius.

But what about to others? What other parts of Mr. Bell’s life do we know about? The Bell Telephone Company, founded in 1878, was named after him, as well as many other telephone companies to follow years later. It is known that he was the mastermind such inventions as the telephones, photophone (which is NOT a camera phone), metal detector, phonograph and a very primative form of air conditioner. But what about his family? How well known is it that AG Bell’s (as the name is often abbriviated) mother, a portrait paintner and accompished musician, was deaf and that his father taught otehr deaf people to speak using a method called ‘Visible speech’ which is very similar to the common day Oralist method. He laster, after teaching at different schools for the deaf, he married Mable Hubbard, one of his deaf students and together they had 4 children.

This seems like a happy story, right? Well, just consider a few things before taking all this too seriously. AG Bell also has the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing which has a goal to help those living with a hearig loss live independantly. The following is an exceprt from the organization’s website;

“The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) is a lifelong resource, support network and advocate for listening, learning, talking and living independently with hearing loss….With over a century of service, AG Bell supports its mission: Advocating Independence through Listening and Talking! “

AG Bell

So again, this is going on to promote the Oralist method of educating the deaf and hard of hearing of the United States. It must also be considered what else he promoted. While working towards ‘helping’ deaf people find their place in the hearing world through language, he was also fighting against their rights. Alexander Graham Bell was an advocate to make it so the deaf could not marry and reproduce. At the time, it was believed that deafness was transmitted through generations and by allowing these people to procreate, they were simply perpetuating the cycle of deafness.

I know it sounds crazy; the man of a deaf woman, who married a deaf woman wants this to pass?! It was true. At the time, like it is in some places still, Oralism is still the prefered method of education for the deaf, not because of it’s benifits (which there are fewer then with other methods) but it made the individuals less ‘different’ and more like the general, hearing society. So now what do we think about Mr. Bell? Yes, his inventions have been of great help to us in our lives and society, but were his intentions through out his life always so honest? This is something left for you to decide.