Items tagged with FRANCE
1663 - 1705: Guillaume Amontons, Deaf Scientist (FR)
Guillaume was born in Paris, France. While still young, Guillaume lost his hearing, which may have motivated him to focus entirely on science.
He never attended a university, but was able to study mathematics, the physical sciences, and celestial mechanics. He also spent time studying the skills of drawing, surveying, and architecture. He died in Paris, France.
1670 – 1750: Étienne de Fay: First deaf teacher of the deaf in France (FR)
Étienne de Fay was born deaf into a noble family, then placed with the monks at the Abbey of St Jean in Amiens. From 1720 to 1725, he was the first deaf teacher known in France who taught deaf children, before the Abbé de l'Epée.
1712 - 1789: Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée (FR)
"Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée of Paris founded the first free school for deaf people in 1755."
"He first recognized and learned the signs that were already being used by deaf people in Paris and then developed his sign system. He added a signed version of spoken French."
1740 - 1823: Claude André Deseine, Sculptor (FR)
Claude-André Deseine was born deaf. He was an early pupil of the French pioneer of sign language teaching, the abbé de l’Epée, and justly proud of his achievements as a deaf-mute artist.
1742 - 1822: Abbé Sicard, Teacher of the Deaf (FR)
Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard (20 September 1742 – 10 May 1822) was a French abbé and instructor of the deaf.
In 1789, on the death of the Abbé de l'Épée, he succeeded him at a leading school for the deaf which Épée had founded in Paris.
1747 - 1799 : Pierre Desloges (FR)
In 1779, Piere Desloges wrote what may be the first book published by a deaf person, in which he advocated for the use of sign language in deaf education.
It was in part a rebuttal of the views of Abbé Claude-François Deschamps de Champloiseau, who had published a book arguing against the use of signs.
Desloges explained, "like a Frenchman who sees his language belittled by a German who knows only a few French words, I thought I was obliged to defend my language against the false charges of this author." He describes a community of deaf people using a sign language (now referred to as Old French Sign Language).
1755: First School for the Deaf in France, Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée
"Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée of Paris founded the first free school for deaf people in 1755."
1772 - 1846: Jean Massieu, First Deaf Teacher of the Deaf in France
Jean Massieu (1772 – July 21, 1846) was a pioneering deaf educator. One of six deaf siblings, he was denied schooling until age thirteen when he met Abbé Sicard, who enrolled him in the Institute national des jeunes sourds de Bordeaux-Gradignan, the Bordeaux School for Deaf Children.
1785 - 1869: Laurent Clerc, Deaf Teacher of the Deaf
Louis Laurent Marie Clerc (26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869) was a French teacher called "The Apostle of the Deaf in America" and was regarded as the most renowned deaf person in American Deaf History.
With Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, the Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, on April 15, 1817.
1810 - 1891: Claudius Forrestier, Deaf Teacher (FR)
Claudius Forestier was the director of the institution des sourds-muets in Lyon from 1852 until 1891 and one of the founders of the Société centrale des sourds-muets in 1838.
1814 - 1863: Pierre Pélissier (FR)
Pierre Pélissier was a pioneer for deaf education in France in the mid 19th century.
1823 - 1875: Bruno Braquehais, Photographer (FR)
Bruno Braquehais was born in Dieppe, France in 1823. Although records don’t state how he lost his hearing, Braquehais was deaf from a young age. When he was nine years old, he started at the Royal Institute of the Deaf and Mute in Paris. He later found work as a lithographer.