September is Deaf Awareness Month!
September 2: Laurent Clerc
Laurent Clerc co-founded the first permanent school for the deaf in North America, the American School for the Deaf (asd-1817.org), on April 15, 1817, in Hartford, Connecticut, with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.
Clerc, a deaf teacher from France, brought French Sign Language to America to help establish deaf education in the United States. The school, formerly named the Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, is still in existence today.
Learn more about Laurent on Gallaudet University’s website: gallaudet.edu/student-success/tutorial-center/english-center/reading-esl/esl-practice-reading-exercises/biography-of-laurent-clerc/