Laurent Clerc's life and experiences as a deaf person

Laurent Clerc life as a Deaf person

Laurent Clerc

People with handicaps have a hard time integrating in society, because they are often rejected since they feel intimidated because of their handicap. Over the years handicapped people that gathered in communities have struggled to make the whole world understand that they are also human and that they are equal to normal people. Deafness differs from other kinds of handicaps because it is not visible. However, deaf people need to be supported and understood in their attempts of becoming normal. Laurent Clerc is one of the early supporters of deaf people, and, along with Thomas Hopkins Galleudet, he founded the first school for deaf people in North America.

Hearing impaired people have difficulties following speech and in some occasions they require a hearing assistance in the form of sound amplifier devices. People that cannot hear at all rely allot on lip-reading and unlike those with a mild deafness, it is less possible for them to ever hear again.

Deafness is dangerous for the fact that it generally isolates one from the rest of the world, with the respective person having trouble socializing. Another danger that deaf people have to face is that they cannot hear alarms or sirens. Deafness is a very common disease with thousands of deaf babies being born every year around the world. When considering age, men are more likely to becoming death as they grow older.

Our society is based on the ability to communicate and people that have problems hearing are usually willing to try everything in order to overcome their handicap. As technology evolved, numerous devices meant to assist deaf people have been invented. People generally prefer lip-reading to devices that amplify sounds. People that have difficulties hearing often refrain from using hearing devices because they consider that by doing so they would accept the fact that they are deaf. Old people also dislike having to use devices which improve hearing because they are not willing to accept that one of the effects that aging has is the loss in hearing.

Laurent Clerc was born in France in a small village near Lyon in an upper class family. When he was an infant, he fell into a fire and suffered a severe hit which left him deaf and without the sense of smell. The event is controversial, as Clerc himself later claimed that it had not been certain if the handicaps had been provoked by the incident or if he had them since he was born. Laurent had a tough childhood as he tried to understand what made him different from normal people and why it had been so hard to perform simple actions such as talking or listening. Also, during his childhood, his family had had difficulties accepting that he had been deaf. It is normal during the first years in aperson-s life for people to refuse to accept the fact that a member of their family is handicapped.

People always hope that the deafness that their relatives experience would be different from other similar diseases which cannot be cured. With time however, they learn to accept their fate and they try to adapt.

At the age of twelve, Laurent had been taken to Paris at the National Institution for the Deaf, the first school for deaf people in the world. During his stay at the school he proved to have impressive learning abilities and he outclassed most students there. Observing that he was different from ordinary students, the school's directors presented him with an offer of becoming an assistant teacher. Laurent accepted and proved he deserved the job as he gradually evolved to the point where he taught the highest class in the school.

Across the ocean, in the U.S., people had been far behind when considering special schools for deaf children. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet had been planning to become a minister and met a deaf little girl. He was sorry to hear that she could not attend to any specialized teaching institute because there weren't any in the U.S.

Determined to make life easier for deaf people in America, Gallaudet went to England where he hoped to learn more about creating a teaching institute for deaf children. The English did not do much to help him, but he was made an offer by a French teacher of deaf children to come and spend three months attending classes in the Royal Institution for the Deaf. At the time when Gallaudet arrived at the Royal Institution for the Deaf, Laurent had been teaching sign classes. Gallaudet became Clerc's student and during the period the two made progress together.

Consequent to attending Clerc's classes, Gallaudet became amazed at his teacher's abilities and invited him to join him in going to America. Clerc happily accepted the invitation believing that it would be for a short while. Gallaudet continued to study sign language, while Clerc started to learn English.

"Back in America, funds were obtained and the Connecticut Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb (now named the American School for the Deaf) was established in 1817, with Gallaudet as its director, Laurent Clerc as the first deaf teacher of deaf students in America, and Alice Cogswell as one of the first seven pupils." (Lang, Harry G.)

One of the most interesting things about Clerc had been that he considered that deafness shouldn't be an impediment for one that wants to follow his dreams. He claimed that deaf people should not be ignored for their handicap and a talented deaf person should be appreciated for her or his true values.

Both Gallaudet and Clerc had made great efforts to present the Americans with a new concept and with the benefits that deaf people would have when attending a school specially made for them. After the institution had been opened, Clerc devoted his entire life to teaching deaf students. He taught at the Hartford institute from 1817 and until 1958 when he retired because of his age. During the years he worked, he had the mission of teaching deaf students as well as normal people that wanted to study sign language.