No. 23 DHI NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2005

Update from Berlin: DHI VI Conference Announces Website DHI 2006, Berlin!

Mark Zaurov, the organizer of the 2006 International Conference on Deaf History, announces a web site and some deadlines for presenters.

For more information, go to www.igjad.de and click on the second link.

Presentation abstracts: due 31 October 2005 PowerPoint: due 30 April 2006 Full article: due 15 October 2006

We will all want to keep checking this website over the summer as Mark and his crew update it.

Deaf History Associations Around The World: Japanese Association of Deaf History Japanese Association of Deaf History

The Japanese Association of Deaf History was established in 1998 and has held annual conferences every year since then, the most recent on 4-5 December 2004 in Hiroshima.

The Association has about 250 members and publishes a newsletter three times a year.

Reported by Tsuyoshi Sakuri, Secretary-General

A note from the DHIN editor: Tsuyoshi, I am sure many members of DHI would like to read your newsletter. Is there any possibility of making it available in English?

. AN ASSOCIATION FOR ALL INTERESTED IN THE STUDY, 1

PRESERVAION, AND DISSEMINATION OF DEAF PEOPLE'S HISTORY.

2 DHI NEWSLETTER No. 23 (SUMMER 2 0 0 5 )

New and Noteworthy Works on Deaf History

Brohusgade 17: 29. oktober 1898-29. oktober 1998,100 ar,fra alderdomshjem til kulturhus (1998). [Denmark]: Grafisk Hrerksted.

This little publication covers the first 100 years of the Brohusgade in Denmark, which began as a home for aged Deaf persons and today serves as a cultur-al 'center for Danish Deaf people.

Gallaudet University Library Index to Deaf Periodicals (1997- ). http://lib-lists.wrlc.orgj gadpij .

An online index to a few popular magazines for the Deaf, includ-

,) Deaf American (1964-1999), Deaf Life (1987-2002), DeajNation (1995-1998), and Silent Worker (1948-1964). Recently added is indexing for the first ten years of the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb (1848-1858), providing better access to a valuable record of American and international Deaf history during the 19th Century. Indexing of the Annals is continuing and coverage will be extended beyond 1858.

Jackson, Peter W. (2004). The Gawdy Manuscripts. Feltham, Middlesex, UK: British Deaf History Society Publications. ISBN 1902427165.

Peter Jackson just keeps churning them out. This time, he gives us the first-

and well-researched biography of Sir John Gaudy (1639-1704) and Framlingham Gaudy (1641-1673), Deaf brothers from a wealthy Suffolk, England

By THOMAS R. lIARRINGTON GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

family. (The family sometimes spelled its name as "Gawdy," and many old docu-ments use this spelling, which explains the spelling in the book's title. However, the Deaf brothers used "Gaudy" and so this is what Jackson uses for the Deaf brothers themselves.) John Gaudy was tutored at home, probably by John Cressener, together with his deaf brother Framlingham Gaudy. They had two hear-ing brothers, but when both hearing brothers died in a smallpox epidemic, John inherited the baronetcy, a very rare event for Deaf persons. John also took some art tutoring, but plans to become a professional painter were dropped when he became baronet. His will (written 1672) is the first one known to have been written by a deaf person. Framlingham was tutored at home like his deaf older brother. The Gaudy brothers are thus a rare case of British Deaf persons being educated before the establishment of the first Braidwood school in 1760, earlier even than the tutoring of Daniel Whalley and Alexander Popham by John Wallis. Like John Gaudy, Framlingham Gaudy went on to study art, intending to become a professional painter, but an attack of smallpox weakened his health and he died young and unmarried, at age 31. Both brothers are recorded as having used sign language.

Lee, Raymond, ed. (2003). Gems from The Gentleman's Magazine: A Collection of Published Articles and Letters

DHI NEWSLETfER No. 23 (SUMMER 2005 )

Referring to the Deaf Feltham, Middlesex, UK: British Deaf History Society Publications. ISBN 1902427149.

Research into early Deaf history is handicapped by a lack of indexing to many potentially useful resources. Members of the British Deaf History Society made an attack on this problem by methodically searching, page by page, through the English periodical The Gentlemen's Magazine that was published during the years 1747-1831 and is pre-served in the British Library. They extracted all the articles and letters that relate to Deaf people in some way, which are now transcribed and published togeth-er in this book. This is a convenient source of hard-to-find published British primary references to Deaf people during this period. The only negative is the lack of an index. If you are looking for some-thing specific, it can be slow to search for it in 113 pages of chronologically-ordered references, but that has to be better than wading through 84 years of mostly non-Deaf magazine pages-even if you are close enough to visit the British Library yourself.

Miles, M. (2000). "Signing in the Seraglio: Mutes, Dwarfs and Jestures [sic] at the Ottoman Court 1500-1700". Disability and Society, vol.15 nO.1, P.115-134.

This column has previously noted Miles' writings on sign language and deaf people in South and Southwestern Asia (DHI Newsletter, no.15 (Spring 2003), P·7). In this article, Miles uncovers the unique role that Deaf people, called "mutes", played as servants and body-guards in the little-known seraglio. This

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was the cloistered royal court of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, not to be con-fused with lurid popular images of "harems." Miles begins with a recap of the role played by dwarfs and other "people with difference" in royal courts through-out history, discusses the problems of the historical record of such people in the seraglio, then begins a deeper examina-tion of the Deaf in the seraglio based on what solid information is left after filter-ing out European and Christian biases. "Mutes" first appeared, possibly as early as 1389, as court executioners who killed victims by strangling with bowstrings on the sultan's command. Soon, though, they moved into additional roles, primarily as guards and for amusement. The sultans favored Deaf people around them because the mutes could not overhear confidential discussions. The mutes of course signed among themselves, and reportedly could make themselves understood to their hearing masters, although several sultans are reported as having picked up and freely used the sign language themselves. The hearing court members of at least one sultan picked up the habit of using the . mute's sign language among themselves since it was "not reverent or seemly so much as to whisper" in the sultan's pres-ence. The seraglio mutes and their sign language persisted into the twentieth cen-tury, disappearing only with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Our own DHI Newsletter editor, Lois Bragg, assist-ed Miles with comments and information and is credited in the article.

---- (2004). "Locating Deaf People, Gesture and Sign in Mrican Histories,

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1450s-1950s." Disability & Society, vol. 19 .5, P·531-545·

A substantial expansion of an article first published here in DHI Newsletter, nO.14 (2002), this article extends Miles' valuable survey of historical references to Deaf people or sign languages in historical writings of India, Mesopotamia, and adja-cent areas (DHI Newsletter, nO.15, P.7) to the seriously neglected area of Africa. Miles notes that most writings on African Deaf persons begin in the 1960s, with the

African graduates of Gallaudet University. Writings about Deaf Africans prior to that time are very scarce. As with the earlier article, this article is a valuable start at correcting the imbalance of Deaf historical research from its current domi-nance of American and European sub-j We hope this is a starting point for olner peoples' own writings on African Deaf history as well as Miles' continuing research and writing.

Lane, Harlan (2004). A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0807066168.

Dr. Lane, known in Deaf history cir-cles for his When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf(1984), gives us the first book-length biography of one of America's earliest and significant painters, a portraitist who happened to be Deaf. Lane examines Brewster's family roots in Britain and New England, the American "Federalist" period during which Brewster 1· d, his role in both the American art wurld of his time and the American Deaf world of his time, and ends with an exam-ination of how today's Deaf ethnicity and

DHI NEWSLETTER No. 23 (SUMMER 2005 )

Deaf world is intertwined with Deaf art. Although Brewster had already been suc-cessfully practicing his painting career for over a quarter century at the time, he was one of the first pupils (and by far the old-est, at age 51) in America's first perma-nent school for the Deaf, now the American School for the Deaf at West Hartford, Connecticut. This book was written to accompany the traveling exhibi-tion of the same title, featuring many of Brewster's paintings, in five locations along the eastern United States coast April 1, 2005 through April 29, 2007. N ear the end is a complete inventory of all of Brewster's known portrait paintings and their current locations, approximately 180 in all.

Plann, Susan (2004). Una minoria silen-ciosa. Madrid: Confederacion Nacional de Sordos de Espanola.

A Spanish translation of Dr. Plann's A Silent Minority: Deaf Education in Spain, 1550-1835, originally published in English in 1997 and previously noted in this column (DHI Newsletter nO.15).

Silent Worker (1888-1929). http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdlfcollectjg aswfgasw.shtml.

The popular American Deaf maga-zine Silent Worker actually was two sepa-rate and different magazines. It first appeared 1888-1929, published by the New Jersey School for the Deaf for a national readership. In 1948, it was revived by the National Association of the Deaf and continued until 1964, when it was renamed Deaf American, finally expiring in 1999. Finding articles in old

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DHI NEWSLETIER No. 23 (SUMMER 2005 ) 5 Deaf magazines has always been a big problem, since they lacked indexes. In a special grant-supported project, the Gallaudet University Archives has indexed and digitized the original 1888-1929 Silent Worker and posted it online with its own "search engine." This 'is a rich resource for research into American Deaf history during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, and even has a little information on Deaf events in other countries.

From the Editor's D,esk By LOIS BRAG(

Just one year until our next conference - in Berlin! I'm looking forward to this conference and I will be taking up a German Sign Language class in Hamburg this summer to get ready. Hopefully, I'll be able to chat with our German colleagues by next year. Please note the deadline for abstracts - these are one-page summaries of a paper you wish to have considered for presentation at the conference. Also please note the conference website.

Speaking of websites, we are happy to announce that DHI member Gordon Hay, a Digital Media freelancer living in the Czech Republic, will be taking over the DHI website and moving it out of Gallaudet. Many members have noted that our current website has not been updated in some time. We're very happy that Gordon will take it over.

Berlin Conference: Call for Papers Information I am pleased to welcome you to the 6th DHI conference in Berlin. You are cordially invited to submit your proposals for papers for the Congress online.

(() Please go to "Call for Papers" online to get acquainted with the following conditions for submission of the proposals:

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1. You need to submit a short text (30 words for the program) and a longer text (400 words) plus a video clip presented in International Sign (max. 6 minutes).

2. In the video clip you should tell us about yourself and your background in this topic, and explain what you want to say in this lecture.

/ 3. Your lecture must be presented using PowerPoint and submitted approximately three months before the conference for the interpreters' preparation. If no PowerPoint file is received before this deadline, then the lecture will be cancelled.

Deadline for lecture topics: October 15th 2005

Deadline for PowerPoint file: April 30th 2006

Deadline for full article: July 15th 2006 The proposal can be submitted either online or by mail to the address below:

MarkZaurov Dorotheenstr. 186 22299 Hamburg Germany

This will be the first time in Europe that the Deaf Holocaust will be discussed on an international scale. Other topics will be also presented.

Hotel: A special deal has been made with the Hotel Radisson for the DHI Conference participants. Only DHI-Conference partici-pants can get this special rate. One room (up to 2 persons) per night will cost 140 Euros including breakfast and tax. (Tax may change nearer to the time). This Conference's special offer is valid until December 2005. The Hotel Radisson located in the heart of Berlin, only 5 minutes away from the conference hall, close to the Museuminsel (the museum area) and the Hackescher Market.

6 DHI NEWSLETI'ER No. 23 (SUMMER 2005 )

;Book Review: Hand, Heart, and Mind: The Story vf the Education of America's Deaf People

Walker, Lou Ann. 1994. Hand, Heart, and Mind: The Story of the Education of America's Deaf People. New York: Penguin.

Geared for American readers aged ten and up, and therefore accessible to international readers for whom English is a foreign language, this 127-pages book addresses the controversy between manualism and oralism in educating Deaf chil-dren, as well as the civil-rights struggles that the Deaf community has faced over the years. Divided into three parts, the first 96 pages relate the history of Deaf education from ancient times to the 1988 Deaf President Now protest. The next 15 pages give biographies of well-known Deaf persons. The final section is a bibliography r 4 recommended readings.

-" Author Lou Ann Walker, a child of Deaf par-ents, is a certified interpreter who has worked on national television and in courts, hospitals and classrooms. She has written several other books for young readers, including A Lossfor Words: the Story of Deafness in a Family; Amy: The Story of a Deaf Child; and Roy Lichtenstein: The

" Artist. Starting with ancient Greece, Walker

describes the conflicting ideas that marked the early education of deaf people. For example, the philosophies of Socrates, Pliny the Elder, the Venerable Bede, St. Paul, and St. Augustine are explained. Additionally, Pablo Ponce de Leon, Juan Pablo Bonet and Manuel Ramirez de Carrion are portrayed as early teachers. We then move on to Europe to learn about the Braidwood family, Samuel Heinicke, the abbe de l'Epee and the abbe Roch-Ambroise Sicard.

Walker describes how Thomas Hopkins llaudet would write "h-a-t" on the ground for

Cogswell. It disappoints me that Walker writes that history does not record whether or not this was a breakthrough for Alice (page 28). I beg to disagree because it is documented in sev-

By ARLENE KELLY

eral sources that it was indeed a moment of enlightenment for Alice. Nevertheless, shortly after this description, she describes the well-known French-American connection initiated by Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc.

Walker also describes the raging debate between Alexander Graham Bell and Edward Miner Gallaudet over the proper method of com-munication, best known as the oralism versus manualism feud. While this has been one of the main battles regarding communication in the education of deaf children, the 1880 Milan Congress is also a historical turning point. Again, Walker disappoints me by giving this watershed event only a page. Much more infor-mation could have been given regarding this Congress. For example, out of 163 men attend-ing this Congress, only one was Deaf, and he was not allowed to state his opinions or vote.

On the plus side, I found it enlightening to read about many other ideas for communication, such as the Rochester method, the Northampton Chart, the Wing Symbols, the Barry Five-Slate System, and the Fitzgerald Key. While this book has numerous black-and-white photos, it would have been helpful to have included photos or drawings of what these charts and symbols looked like.

Walker winds down her book with a descrip-tion of the 1988 Deaf President Now protest in which Gallaudet University students shut down the campus after the selection of a hearing woman to preside. Not only did the protest cul-minate with the appointment of a deaf man, but also opened up many educational and employ-ment opportunities for djDeaf individuals.

Throughout the book, Walker describes tech-nological devices such as hearing aids, teletype-writers and cochlear implants. Unfortunately there are no pictures. That would have been interesting especially for young readers to see these images.

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DHI NEWSLETI'ER No. 23 (SUMMER 2005 )

In Walker's "Twentieth-Century Deaf People of Achievement" section, she provides brief blurbs on well-known people in the categories of Performing Arts, Sports, Chroniclers of the Deaf Experience, Business, Education and Public Service. Among them are Phyllis Frelich, David Michalowski, Ella Mae Lentz, John Yeh, Alice Hagemeyer, Gary Malkowski, for example.

In the bibliography, there is a wide variety of suggested reading not necessarily geared for young readers. Yet Walker took care to mark some with an asterisk to indicate that these may be of interest to young readers. I, however, have to disagree with her selections because I would

Book Review: Deafening

Francis Itani. Deafening. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003: xiv + 378 pp. $14.

It is almost thirty-four years since I awoke one January morning on an icy New York ski slope, people leaning over me, their lips moving, as though in a silent movie. New lenses in my eyeglasses corrected my impaired vision, my bro-ken bones healed, and I treated my newly quiet world as just another injury that would heal itself. It did not. I was profoundly deaf.

Since that time, I have reviewed hundreds of books on hearing loss and have written scores of articles and a book, Listening, about trying to recall sound, all in an attempt to enlarge and redefine my altered world.

But in all those years, I have never seen a novel about sound and deafness so mesmerize the publishing world as Frances Itani's Deafening.

Known in Canada for her short stories and poetry, all published by small presses, Itani was driving, one day, by the Ontario School of the Deaf (now called the Sir James Whitney School) in Belleville, Ontario, when she turned into the driveway. It was here that her beloved Deaf grandmother had spent the early years of the 20th century enrolled as a pupil. In a relay-tele-phone interview, Itani told me that it just sud-denly occurred to her to honor her grandmoth-

7 not find Harlan Lane's When The Mind Hears to be appropriate for a fifth grader.

In spite of some of my misgivings, Hand, Heart, and Mind is a nice addition to the Deaf History, Deaf Studies, or ASL Studies bookshelf.

Dr. Kelly has taught at Gallaudet's Department of ASL and Deaf Studies since 1995. One ofher passions is Deaf History. Her other favorite area of study is Deaf women as exemplified by the title of her 2000 dissertation: "How Deaf Women Construct Teaching, Language and Culture, and Gender: An Ethnographic Study of ASL Teachers."

By HANNAH MERKER

er's memory by writing about the youth of a deaf woman who attended this school and, like her grandmother, married a hearing man (and went on to raise eleven hearing children).

Over the next six years, Itani took lessons in ASL and spent countless hours reading through the school's archives and the newspapers written by and for the resident pupils. Because she knew she could not write about that era without including the "The Great War" (World War 1), she also visited European battlefields and immersed herself in the war's history and litera-ture.

The result is an astonishingly insightful and compelling story so intuitive in its scope of a life without hearing and so realistic in its rendering of rich interior lives that it is difficult to realize the author is hearing.

In Deafening, Grania O'Neill, the daughter of Irish immigrants to Ontario, loses her hearing at age five to scarlet fever. "Mamo," her grand-mother, works hard to recapture what.is left in the auditory memory of the alert little girl, read-ing to her and writing words in the air, while at the same time constantly urging Grania's parents - in denial that Grania's deafness is unalterable - that the child must be educated at a residential school for the deaf.

It is at the school in Belleview, of course, that Grania meets other deaf children and learns to

I ! " 8 DHI NEWSLETTER No. 23 (SUMMER 2005 ) I t __ __ __ __ ____ __ __ __ __ ________ _

!I , sign. And it is there, after graduation and while with shattered minds and bodies. The war comes

<: working as a nurse in the school infirmary, that to an end just as the great influenza pandemic of i ( 'le meets Jim, a hearing man who is a physi- 1918-19 recedes, having snuffed out 20 to 40% of ; cian's assistant. lives world-I It is a time of wide. Mamo

fervent patriotism, dies just as and young men Grania learns are eager to go to that Jim is on war. (Young Deaf his way home. men, of course, During the are rejected when six years she they present spent research-themselves for ing this novel, enlistment.) Jim Itani "allowed leaves only two the material to weeks after his lead [her],' marriage to often uncertain Grania to be what direction trained as a her story would stretcher bearer take. "I knew and serve on the that the novel battlefields of would encom-France. For the pass thematic

( 4 1ur years of their contrasts of .::ieparation, Jim is sound and listening for her, silence, love recreating in let- and war, sur-ters, both written vival and loss. and only imag- I began to ined, the sounds imagine and of war, the sounds visualize vari-of death itself and ous scenarIOS of life, a recre- of sound dur-ation of sound so ing possible subtle, so lyrically war scenes, expressed, so probing possi-broad in its ble ideas about endeavor, so rare Grania's world in literature. of silence."

We Both Jim walk through sound that bears down on and Grania are beautifully created characters, us like an engine on tracks .... if is thun- imbued with life. Deafening is a gift for its sheer derous ... my skin feels as if it will burst ineluctable power of perception in the lives of inward ... one day you told me about the deaf and hearing alike. way understanding for you is sometimes delayed. I know more about that now.

At home, young women wait - for those who will not come home, and for those who return

Hannah Merker is a freelance writer who lives in Maine.