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Europe

1700-1800

1755: First School for the Deaf in France, Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée

1755: First School for the Deaf in France, Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée

"Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée of Paris founded the first free school for deaf people in 1755."

 

 

 

Source: https://www.cityandcountry.co.uk/history-of-the-playfair-at-donaldsons/

1760: First School for the Deaf in the UK, Edinburgh

In 1760, Scottish teacher, Thomas Braidwood founded Braidwood Academy for the Deaf and Dumb in Edinburgh. The school's rapid gain of public attention could be credited to Thomas Braidwood's brazen advertising of his methods and his institution.

1764 – 1786: John Goodricke, Astronomer (UK)

1764 – 1786: John Goodricke, Astronomer (UK)

John Goodricke FRS (17 September 1764 – 20 April 1786) was an English amateur astronomer. He is best known for his observations of the variable star Algol (Beta Persei) in 1782.

1772 - 1836: Roberto Francisco Prádez, first Deaf teacher of the Deaf in Spain

1772 - 1836: Roberto Francisco Prádez, first Deaf teacher of the Deaf in Spain

Roberto Prádez was Spain's first deaf teacher of the deaf. Although he has been neglected historically, Prádez is a founding father of deaf education, a heroic figure who contributed crucially to the establishment and operation of Spain's first state-sponsored school.

1772 - 1846: Jean Massieu, First Deaf Teacher of the Deaf in France

1772 - 1846: Jean Massieu, First Deaf Teacher of the Deaf in France

Jean Massieu (1772 – July 21, 1846) was a pioneering deaf educator. One of six deaf siblings, he was denied schooling until age thirteen when he met Abbé Sicard, who enrolled him in the Institute national des jeunes sourds de Bordeaux-Gradignan, the Bordeaux School for Deaf Children.

1776 - 1839: Pär Aron Borg (SE)

In 1809, Pär Aron Borg founded Allmänna institutet för döfstumma och blinda å Manilla (Public Institute of the Blind and Deaf at Manilla; Manillaskolan). The school had deaf teachers, and the instruction was taught in sign language.

1778: First School for the Deaf in Germany, Leipzig (DE)

1778: First School for the Deaf in Germany, Leipzig (DE)

In 1778 Samuel Heinicke opened the first German public school for the education of the deaf in Leipzig. 

Heinicke insisted that lipreading was the best training method because it made his students speak and understand the language as it was used in society. 

1779: First School for the Deaf in Austria, Vienna

1779: First School for the Deaf in Austria, Vienna

The first Austrian school for the deaf (Taubstummeninstitut) was established in Vienna in 1779 after a visit by Emperor Joseph II to Abbé de l'Epée's school in Paris.

1779 - 1823: Peter Atke Castberg (DK)

1779 - 1823: Peter Atke Castberg (DK)

Castberg was provided with a grant from the King of Denmark to study deaf education in Europe for two years (1803 - 1805), including de l'Epée school in Paris.

At his return in 1805, Castberg began teaching eight deaf children, and on April 17, 1807, the King signed the charter for Døvsstumme-Institutet i Kiøbenhavn (The Institute of the Deaf-Mute in Copenhagen).

1785 - 1869:   Laurent Clerc, Deaf Teacher of the Deaf

1785 - 1869: Laurent Clerc, Deaf Teacher of the Deaf

Louis Laurent Marie Clerc (26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869) was a French teacher called "The Apostle of the Deaf in America" and was regarded as the most renowned deaf person in American Deaf History.

With Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, the Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, on April 15, 1817. 

1786: First School for the Deaf in the Czech Republic, Prague

1786: First School for the Deaf in the Czech Republic, Prague

The Institute for the Deaf was founded on December 7, 1786 in Prague.

From 1787, Karel Berger taught reading and writing with the finger alphabet. He created concepts with the help of characters and deaf and hard of hearing students also learned to articulate.

The real genius of sign language, which was ahead of its time in this area, was Václav Frost. His method was called "Frostr's combined method", also "Czech method" and "Prague", which from today's point of view means that it is a bilingual teaching. Frost used sign language to teach some subjects and, among other things, practiced articulation, reading and writing. He was aware that the deaf needed both.