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History
History is a central part of every culture. Deaf history includes a broad collection of experiences around community, education, language and culture. Because Deaf Americans have long been isolated from the mainstream hearing society, until the mid-1980s information about Deaf community, culture and history came almost exclusively from outsider observers: hearing people who worked with Deaf individuals- educators, doctors, and policymakers. Inspired by the social-political trends of Civil Rights movement, members of the Deaf community began to look at and establish their own history.
Although a shared experience and community has existed for centuries, Deaf culture began to establish itself in the 1970’s. Deaf culture at this point became a more specific acknowledgement of shared history, shared culture, and shared language. These days, Deaf history can be found documented in a number of publications- profiling the places, people and languages of Deaf people in America. In the following pages, you will find brief introduction to the many events that contribute to a history of the Deaf people in the United States.
