September is Deaf Awareness Month!
September 3: American School for the Deaf
The first permanent school for Deaf students opened in West Hartford, Connecticut on April 15, 1817 – the American School for the Deaf (ASD). It was originally called Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. Fortunately, the name was changed in 1819.
It was established by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc, with Gallaudet traveling to Europe to learn deaf education methods from the French Institute for the Deaf in Paris. Clerc, a deaf teacher from the French Institute, returned with Gallaudet and helped establish ASD, where American Sign Language (ASL) was born from the combination of French Sign Language and signs brought by students from home.
The school provided the first formal education for deaf children in the U.S., laying the groundwork for deaf culture, and served as a model for many other schools for the deaf across the country.
ASD on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_School_for_the_Deaf
ASD’s website: asd-1817.org