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    Once upon a time... The french deaf: The men and women, the places and the events that made our history
    Once upon a time... The french deaf: The men and women, the places and the events that made our history
    Once upon a time... The french deaf: The men and women, the places and the events that made our history
    Ebook379 pages1 hour

    Once upon a time... The french deaf: The men and women, the places and the events that made our history

    By Patrice Gicquel

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    About this ebook

    Learn all about the important moments in deaf history through the explanatory texts, short biographies and valuable illustrations of this book, the French bible on the deaf. It's a fascinating read.

    This book has a lot to teach those interested in the world and culture of the deaf, as well as to new générations of deaf people who may wish to follow in the footsteps of their elders.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooks on Demand
    Release dateJun 27, 2019
    ISBN9782322137022
    Once upon a time... The french deaf: The men and women, the places and the events that made our history
    Author

    Patrice Gicquel

    Patrice GICQUEL est né en Bretagne, où il vit avec sa femme et leurs deux enfants.

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      Book preview

      Once upon a time... The french deaf - Patrice Gicquel

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Note to the reader

      Prehistory

      Antiquity

      The Middle Ages

      The Renaissance

      The Seventeenth Century

      The Eighteenth Century

      The French Revolution

      The Nineteenth Century

      The Twentieth Century (1st part)

      World War I

      The Twentieth Century (2nd part)

      World War II

      The Twentieth Century (3rd part)

      The Twenty-first Century

      Bibliography

      Acknowledgements

      INTRODUCTION

      Dear Reader,

      At the first European Colloquium on the History of the Deaf, which took place in 1992 in Rodez, France, I delved deep into the history of the deaf.

      The people I met and the discussions we had were a fascinating exploration of deaf identity and deaf culture.

      I was born to a deaf family, but it was at the Colloquium of Rodez that I learned that we, the deaf, have a culture like any minority–because we are a minority–and ours is very rich.

      This was also when I developed an interest in sign language and its origins.

      In the history of humanity, the deaf are often forgotten.

      And yet, from Antiquity to the present day, deaf men and women have been important as artists, teachers, actors, writers, school principals, and even presidents and leaders of national and/or international associations who fully devote themselves to causes they are committed to and in which they firmly believe.

      The history of the deaf also can also be interpreted as the ceaseless chronicle of a long fight to obtain equality in society: the right to education and health, access to information, general knowledge, accessibility, and so on.

      With the explanatory texts, short biographies, and informative illustrations in this book, I sincerely hope that Once Upon a Time… the French Deaf will convey a reality that remains poorly understood.

      The men and women, the places and the events that made our history have made significant contributions to the long-neglected history of the deaf, even though these people have made valuable contributions to world heritage.

      As we enter this long, dense history of the deaf, I would also like to raise awareness among a wider audience on certain aspects of the deaf world. In particular, I am hoping that young deaf people will be able to identify with this deaf community.

      I hope that in the future, new generations of the deaf will know how to fight, as did their predecessors, for the CAUSE OF THE DEAF and for the DEFENSE OF SIGN LANGUAGE.

      May they be a part of:

      Nonprofit organizations and clubs that defend their rights and promote the use of sign language

      Schools that educate them and develop their communication

      Encounters that inform their hearing friends

      In short, may they be active members of today’s society.

      You have this book between your hands. Please enjoy it and find inspiration in its pages.

      Patrice GICQUEL, Author

      NOTE TO THE READER

      The events in this book are presented in chronological order.

      The presentation of every event becomes apparent over the course of the pages.

      The era is immediately understood.

      The text aims to recount striking facts and to showcase its deaf and hearing protagonists.

      The names of the deaf are written in bold face, with their last names capitalized.

      Those of hearing people are in lowercase letters.

      The narrative is enriched with additional information enclosed in boxes.

      If a deaf witness of the event is mentioned, a biography with a photo of the person and a drawing of his or her name sign is provided in a box.

      Iconography has an important place in this book.

      Photos, paintings, and drawings illustrate each subject with accounts by contemporaries and lovers of history who have worked on them over time.

      Maps are provided for context when necessary.

      The past paves the way for the future

      French saying

      Prehistory

      from 2 million years ago to 3000 BC

      In Prehistoric times, the first humans began to communicate with gestures even before using spoken language.

      For the Prehistoric deaf, there were no problems communicating, since communication was visual and involved gestures.

      For example, by bringing bunched fingers towards the mouth, a sign that is still understandable today all over the world, a man could clearly express the idea to eat.

      The same man could convey that he wanted to drink by pretending to pour liquid between his lips.

      Prehistory was the time of instinctive, natural signs: those that expressed basic and immediate needs or vital necessities.

      But were there any deaf people in Prehistory?

      We can be tempted to answer yes, because it is likely that deafness is as old as humanity.

      Antiquity

      from 3000 BC to 475

      Antiquity did not make the lives of the deaf easier.

      It was thought that they could not be educated, or that they were stupid or crazy.

      Sometimes, their birth was considered a harbinger of misfortunes to come.

      They were sometimes welcomed because of their manual dexterity, but their intellectual abilities were rarely recognized. As a result, they were practically never introduced to the customs and religions of their contemporaries.

      The right to live is the first human right. This right was often revoked from the deaf of Antiquity. It was considered shameful to be deaf. In some populations, parents would hide their deaf children. As a result, they were isolated and did not acquire spontaneous communication through contact with other deaf people.

      After the Greek colonization of Marseille around 600 BC, the philosopher Plato (428–348 BC) believed that a person who could not speak could not reason.

      Plato

      Aristotle

      His follower, Aristotle (384–322 BC), deduced that the deaf, who appeared to be irreparably ignorant, could not be educated. He did recognize, however, that the dumbness was a consequence of deafness.

      And yet, when Gaul was occupied by the Romans, Pliny the Elder (23–79), wrote in his Natural History of the existence of a deaf man named Quintus PEDIUS, a grandson of Quintus Pedius Publicola, senator and speaker.

      Since he was from a wealthy family, it was ordered that he be instructed in painting. He acquired a level of excellence in this art, but he died young.

      His education is also mentioned as being the first of its kind for a deaf person, even though he was probably only educated in the arts.

      The Gauls went so far as to sacrifice the deaf, who were considered inferior, on altars dedicated to the terrifying Toutatis, their war god.

      The Middle Ages

      from 476 to 1491

      It seems the deaf were better integrated into community life during the Middle Ages.

      Very few deaf people were beggars, and all the others worked. They were laborers, cloth merchants, butchers, ploughmen, handmaids, doormen, and even monks.

      In some cases, the deaf were simply tolerated, as if they were village idiots.

      From the end of the fourth century, Jérôme de Stridon (347–420), considered to be a saint, father, and doctor of the Church, recognized that "through signs and through daily conversation, through the eloquent gestures of the whole body, the deaf can understand the Gospel."

      It was not until the twelfth century that Pope Innocent III authorized the marriage of the deaf. Since they could not speak, they would say I do through signs.

      Marriages were mixed, involving either a deaf man and a hearing woman or a deaf woman and a hearing man.

      At the Cistercian monastery founded in 1098 by Robert de Molesme in the abbey of Citeaux (region of Tonnerre), monks were bound by a vow of silence.

      They would communicate with each other only through signs, but their monastic sign language had very few signs in common with the language of the deaf.

      Nevertheless, a number of young deaf men found themselves in the monasteries of the Benedictine monks.

      The Renaissance

      1492 to 1600

      During the Renaissance, especially under Francis I (1494–1547), a certain way of viewing the world and of favoring the arts came about.

      Mentalities changed, which was rather positive for the deaf.

      Francis I had several magnificent castles built, particularly along the Loire river, and called upon major Italian painters including Leonardo da Vinci.

      As a man of universal spirit, who was at once an artist, scientist, inventor, and philosopher, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) pointed out in his Treatise on Painting:

      "The deaf are masters in terms of movement; from afar they understand what people are speaking about, as long as the speaker accompanies his words with movements of the hands…"

      Priests, on the other hand, who possessed knowledge and were tasked with instructing the children of wealthy families, noticed that it was possible to educate the deaf.

      Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), a French writer, understood that the mute could converse, argue, and tell stories using signs.

      He also stated that they lacked nothing in the perfection of making themselves understood.

      He confirmed that the deaf had already come together in communities, well before the sixteenth century.

      By decision of the Parliament of Paris on October 27, 1595, if the deaf did not know how to read or write, they could not sell or bequeath their property after death without the consent of their legal guardians. The legal guardians would negotiate and sign contracts on their behalf.

      Despite this, a deaf man named Anthoine de LAINCEL (1525–1611), Lord of Saint-Martin-de-Renacas (in the Alps of Haute-Provence), expressed himself through signs and had an interpreter at his disposal. He got involved in wars. He managed his accounts and drafted his will in drawings.

      Opposite: his famous account book

      The book contains twelve pages, where objects bought for his own use and for his family were depicted in very realistic images, drawn with a quill and followed by numbers (pounds, shillings, and pence).

      The Seventeenth Century

      1601 to 1700

      Circa 1605, during a tour of his diocese, Saint Francis de Sales (1567–1622), Bishop of Geneva and resident of Annecy, met a deaf man named MARTIN.

      MARTIN, aged between 25

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