September is Deaf Awareness Month!
September 8: Milan Conference Fallout
The 1880 Milan Congress was a pivotal, and for many, a negative, event in the history of deaf education and communities, where delegates passed a resolution advocating for oralism (speech-based education) over manual methods (sign language).
This decision led to the widespread banning of sign language in schools, causing generations of language deprivation and marginalization for deaf people worldwide.
The Congress’s resolutions were officially rejected by the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) in 2010, with a formal apology issued for the harmful ideologies and impacts of the Milan Congress, as noted by UNESCO and the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).
More information on Wikipedia: wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_International_Congress_on_Education_of_the_Deaf