This documentary from PBS explores deaf life in the United States over the past 200 years or so. Read about how deaf education began in the early 1800s because of the serendipitous meeting between a man from Connecticut and a Frenchman who was fluent in sign language. As a result of this meeting, the American, Thomas Gallaudet, opened the first school for the deaf in Connecticut. The Frenchman, Laurent Clerc, became the first teacher of sign language in the United States. The famous college for the deaf, Gallaudet University, is named in honor of the man who introduced a new way of communication for the deaf in the U.S. December 9 through 13 is Clerc-Gallaudet Week, a time to focus on the importance of American Sign Language.
courtesy of Knovation
