50 Fun Facts About Deaf Culture & History

In Deaf culture, what does writing 'Deaf' with a big D signify, as opposed to a small d?

Many members of Deaf communities see deafness as a difference in human experience rather than a disability.

ASL is most closely related to the signing of which country?

ASL is not based on English and is not universal; BSL is a completely different language.

ASL emerged in the early 19th century at which institution?

It blended Old French Sign Language, Martha's Vineyard signs, other village sign languages and home signs.

Which deaf French teacher co-founded North America's first permanent deaf school with Gallaudet in 1817?

He was called 'the Apostle of the Deaf in America' and had been taught in Paris by Sicard and Massieu.

In which Connecticut city was the first permanent American school for the deaf founded?

It opened in the old Bennet's City Hotel and is now the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford.

Gallaudet University is the world's first institution of higher education for the deaf. In which city is it?

It began in 1864 as a grammar school for deaf and blind children and is officially bilingual in ASL and English.

Which US head of state signed the 1864 act allowing Gallaudet to confer college degrees?

April 8 is still celebrated on campus as Charter Day.

Which everyday piece of American football is said to have originated on the Gallaudet team?

The team huddled so opponents couldn't read their signed plays.

What was the 1988 Gallaudet protest that shut down the campus called?

It began when the board chose a hearing candidate, Elisabeth Zinser, over two Deaf finalists.

Who became Gallaudet's first Deaf leader as a result of the 1988 campus shutdown?

All four of the protesters' demands were met within a week.

The 1880 Milan Conference passed a resolution doing what?

Oralism dominated deaf education for nearly a century; a formal apology came in 2010.

Which Gallaudet linguist's 1960 book Sign Language Structure established that ASL is a true language?

He coined the term 'cherology' and invented a written notation for signs.

On which US island did a village sign language flourish because so many residents were born deaf?

In Chilmark one person in 25 was deaf, and hearing islanders signed too.

Who was the last deaf person born into the island signing tradition, dying in 1952?

A few elderly hearing residents could still recall the language when researchers arrived in the 1980s.

In which country did deaf schoolchildren spontaneously create a new signed language in the late 1970s and 80s?

Staff thought the children were miming until the Ministry of Education called in linguist Judy Kegl in 1986.

According to the British Deaf Association, roughly how many people in the UK use British Sign Language?

Of those, about 87,000 are Deaf; the rest are relatives, interpreters and others.

Which deaf composer wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament to his brothers about his hearing loss?

At the 1824 premiere of the Ninth Symphony a soloist had to turn him around to see the applause he couldn't hear.

How did Beethoven's friends communicate with him once his hearing had gone?

Around 1818 his hearing had deteriorated so far that visitors wrote their side of conversations down.

Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing at what age?

She went on to become the first deafblind person in the US to earn a college degree, at Radcliffe.

Which word did Helen Keller first understand when Anne Sullivan spelled it into her palm at the pump?

The moment was dramatised in William Gibson's play and film The Miracle Worker.

Which inventor, whose mother and wife were both deaf, championed oralism and taught at the Clarke School?

His pupil Mabel Hubbard, deaf since childhood, became his wife in 1877.

Which two engineers invented the original single-channel cochlear implant in 1957?

The multi-channel implants used today were developed separately by Graeme Clark in Australia and the Hochmairs in Austria.

How does a cochlear implant deliver sound?

Some in the Deaf community regard implants as 'audist' and a threat to signing culture.

Who was the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award, for Children of a Lesser God?

At 21 she remains the youngest Best Actress winner; Henry Winkler discovered her in a children's theatre production.

Which political drama gave the first deaf Oscar winner the recurring role of pollster Joey Lucas?

She also appeared in The L Word and Switched at Birth, having found more roles for deaf actors on TV.

CODA won Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars. What does the title stand for?

It was the first Best Picture winner from a streaming service and the first featuring predominantly deaf actors in leading roles.

Which deaf actor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing the father in CODA?

He also devised the Tusken Raider sign language for The Mandalorian and ended up playing their lead.

CODA is an English-language remake of which 2014 French-Belgian film?

Apple paid a Sundance-record $25 million for it.

For which Star Wars series did the CODA Oscar winner develop the Tusken Raider sign language?

He didn't mention he was an actor for fear of seeming sycophantic; when producers found out, they cast him.

In Sound of Metal, Riz Ahmed plays what kind of musician losing his hearing?

Paul Raci, a CODA himself, was Oscar-nominated for playing the leader of the deaf sober-living community.

Which Los Angeles company staged Tony-nominated Big River and Spring Awakening in ASL with voicing?

It was founded in 1991 by Ed Waterstreet and Sesame Street's Linda Bove.

Nyle DiMarco won which two reality shows, becoming the first Deaf winner of each?

Producers scouted him on social media without realising he was deaf; he later wrote Deaf Utopia.

Which deaf EastEnders actress won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 as the show's first deaf contestant?

Her silent dance segment with Giovanni Pernice became one of the series' most celebrated moments.

In which city and year were the first Deaflympics held?

They were the first international sporting event for athletes with a disability and are the longest-running multi-sport event after the Olympics.

How do Deaflympics starting signals differ from other games?

Visual cues such as lights and flags replace starting pistols and bullhorns.

Which deaf outfielder played MLB from 1993 to 2006 and later coached at Gallaudet?

Deaf from rubella at birth, he was named MLB's Ambassador for Inclusion in 2015 and became Gallaudet's head baseball coach.

Which part of Texas is named after a hearing-impaired scout of the Texas Revolution?

Erastus 'Deaf' Smith fought at San Jacinto and later led a company of Texas Rangers.

What two-word term reframes 'hearing loss' as a benefit to society in the signing community?

Deaf scientist Michele Cooke describes it as the benefits Deaf people provide the larger community.

Which 1965 reference work, with appendices by Carl Croneberg, first drew analogies between Deaf and hearing cultures?

Croneberg's appendices C and D are an early landmark in describing Deaf culture as culture.

In which year did Gallaudet College become Gallaudet University?

Congress amended the charter; the school had been the Columbia Institution for the Deaf until 1954.

Who opened the first school for the deaf in Paris in 1760?

It was at that institute that Thomas Gallaudet later watched a teaching demonstration by Sicard, Massieu and Laurent Clerc before bringing Clerc to America.

Which former US postmaster general donated land in 1856 for the school that became Gallaudet?

He had the courts make several neglected deaf and blind children his wards and gave two acres for their housing and schooling; a campus elementary school still carries his name.

April 8, the date of the 1864 act allowing degrees, is celebrated at Gallaudet as what?

College-level courses had begun only the previous academic year, and for 1864-65 the collegiate department was called the National College for the Deaf and Dumb.

What is the nickname of Gallaudet University's athletic teams?

They compete in NCAA Division III, and the women's volleyball team reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2006 with a 30-10 record.

The NTID, one of the US 'Big Three' for deaf students, is part of which university?

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf sits alongside Gallaudet and California State University, Northridge. Gallaudet remains the world's only liberal-arts college for deaf students.

Black ASL, a distinct variety of American Sign Language, evolved mainly because of what?

It differs from standard ASL in vocabulary, phonology and some grammar, and the sign for 'school' still varies between Black and white signers.

Tactile ASL, used by DeafBlind people, is especially common among those with which condition?

That condition causes deafness from birth and vision loss later, so people often grow up signing and then adapt to receiving signs by touch.

Whose 2006 appointment as Gallaudet president was withdrawn after months of campus protests?

Critics cited her limited ASL fluency; the outgoing president accused them of rejecting her as 'not deaf enough'. Davila then served as interim head.

The 1960s decline of American deaf clubs is usually attributed to the rise of which technology?

In the 1940s and 50s the clubs were among the only places run by deaf people for deaf people, funded by selling alcohol and hosting card games.

Who was the first superintendent of the Washington, D.C. school chartered by Congress in 1857?

Congress chartered it as the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind; the blind provision was removed in 1865.