Interesting information about Deaf Americans

[Brent Burns]

Every year, the National Deaf Awareness Week usually falls on the last week of September; however, any school or Deaf club or organizations of deaf people can celebrate Deaf Awareness Day or Week.

I thought I would share some interesting information with you all about several famous Deaf people:

*William "Dummy" Hoy- many Deaf Americans to date still argue that he should be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I read that he had a pretty good batting average; however, he was largely responsible for getting the umpires to call balls and strikes with his hands, so William will know which is a strike or a ball. You can see why those umpires are still doing that today.

Links to William Hoy:

http://library.thinkquest.org/5852/deafhoy.htm

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/exercises/exreading/reading8.html

*Football huddle- this was not really invented by the hearing folks. It started with the Gallaudet College football team many years ago when they had to huddle, so no other teams would steal their signs.

Link to about Gallaudet inventing football huddle at:

http://www.fredbowen.com/c100600.htm

Those information can be found in a book called Deaf Heritage
by Jack Gannon. You can google that.

*Laurent Clerc- Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet invited him to come to America after he met with him and his teacher/supervisor/friend, Abbe Charles Michel De L'Eppe in Paris, France; Laurent, a deaf teacher, graciously accepted and stayed in America all of his life. He was the first deaf teacher in America when he taught at the first school for the deaf in America- American School for the Deaf (Hartford, Connecticut). That school is really a very beautiful campus.

*Robert Weitbrecht- he was the one who invented the TTY (some of you know it as TDD, but I prefer TTY). Some of you may recall very loud, clanking Western Union machines which serve as the first TTYs for the deaf. I used to have one like that when I was a teenager.

*Vint Cerf- the father of the Internet; he is hard of hearing.

*Erastus "Deaf" Smith- he was a scout, spy and a Texas hero. He is the only deaf person in America to have a county named after him- Deaf Smith County which is in West Texas. He is buried in Richmond, Texas, west of Houston.

*Douglas Tilden- a very famous artist and sculptor. He graduated from California School for the Deaf and got his training in sculpting from a deaf sculptor in France. He was responsible for several monmuents in California: The Baseball Player, The Mechanics Monument (both can be found in San Franscico. More about Douglas Tilden and photos of his famous works can be found at:

http://deafness.about.com/cs/deafhistoricpeople/p/douglastilden.htm

To find out more about famous or historic deaf people, you can go to:

http://deafness.about.com

You will need to scroll on the left side to get more information.[/url]

[lil lady lax fan]

Here's one more to add to your list, though not about an American.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, one of his most popular pieces and probably his best work, was written after the composer was totally deaf.

Also, if you watch how Spiderman shoots his webbing his hand forms the deaf gesture for "I love you"

Just thought that was kind of cool...

[Brent Burns]

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, one of his most popular pieces and probably his best work, was written after the composer was totally deaf.

Thanks for adding this to the list!

I also want to add that Thomas Edison later became deaf due to an accident that he suffered after falling from a train. The story goes that he would use his teeth on a wooden table to measure the vibrations while he was working on his inventions. That was what I read from an informational piece from his famous New Jersey lab, for I forgot the name of that lab.

[mbuff]

Brent, if I have the correct inventor, the name of Edison's lab was Menlo Park.

[Brent Burns]

Brent, if I have the correct inventor, the name of Edison's lab was Menlo Park.

Yeah, that is it! You are right.

[Hackalicious]

Beethoven's Ninth I also want to add that Thomas Edison later became deaf due to an accident that he suffered after falling from a train. The story goes that he would use his teeth on a wooden table to measure the vibrations while he was working on his inventions. That was what I read from an informational piece from his famous New Jersey lab, for I forgot the name of that lab.

Sounds like "It's all Gone Pete Tong: The Legend of the Deaf DJ"

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

*Vint Cerf- the father of the Internet; he is hard of hearing.

I thought that was Al Gore.