Historical events, deaf people, their culture, and sign language made up deaf history. Although some people consider deafness as being a disability, Deaf community see themselves as a language minority society. Deaf community is proud of their history, language, and culture. They see their deafness as part of their identity and are proud of who they are.
Throughout the years there are many accomplisment achieved by deaf people, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Thomas Alva Edison, and Cal Rodgers. The first political movement in the deaf history took place in Milan, Italy in 1880 where hearing educators voted on banning sign language from school and replacing it with oral approach of teaching deaf children to speak and lip read. This event is commonly known as the Second International Congress on the Education of the Deaf or The Milan Conference. This method aimed to make it easier for deaf people to communicate and be part of the larger community, however it did not bring any benefits for the deaf and brought up a lot of controversy. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) especially which, has around 22,000 members is a strong supporter and protector of sign language and the rights of Deaf people. The NAD helped to manage various events including the first census of deaf population, sponsoring annual camps and a legal defines funds, as well as strongly fought for the rights of Deaf people. There were few known early settlers in Australia who were deaf, including Elizabeth Steel, John Fitzgerald, John Carmichael, Thomas Pattison and Frederick John Rose. Two of these men - Thomas Pattison and Frederick John Rose established early schools for the deaf. In 1860, Thomas Pattison, a deaf migrant from Scotland who was educated at Edinburgh Deaf and Dumb Institution founded the Sydney school whereas Frederick John Rose who was educated at Old Kent Road School, London began the Victorian School for the Deaf Children in Melbourne. Both of these schools were residential and most of the students were boarders. |