History of Deafness

The Talmud Denies Deaf Property Rights 1000 B.C

The Torah protects the deaf from being cursed by others, but does not allow them to participate fully in the rituals of the Temple. Special laws concerning marriage and property were established for deaf-mutes, but deaf-mutes were not allowed to be witnesses in the courts

384-322 B.C

The philosopher Aristotle claims that "Deaf people could not be educated [since] without hearing, people could not learn." In keeping with this thinking, the deaf son of King Croesus of Lydia is not recognized as his father's heir

A.D. 345-550

St. Augustine tells early Christians that deaf children are a sign of God's anger at the sins of their parents. Meanwhile, hearing and speaking Benedictine monks take vows of silence to better honor God. To communicate necessary information, they develop their own form of sign language

1500's

The experimentation that flourishes throughout Renaissance Europe sets the stage for the first attempts at educating the deaf. The physician Geronimo Cardano of Padua, Italy, attempts to teach his deaf son using a code of symbols, believing that the deaf can be taught written symbolic language.

Meanwhile, Pedro Ponce de Leon, a Benedictine monk, successfully teaches speech to people deaf since birth. While neither Ponce de Leon or Cardano leaves much of a legacy, this period prompts Juan Pablo Bonet, an advocate of early sign language, to write the first well-known book of manual alphabetic signs for the deaf in 1620.