( we will have the information on all of these individuals
very soon)
1)
Laurent Clerc
2)
Thomas Gallaudet
3)
George Veditz
4)
Edward Miner Gallaudet
5)
Alexander Graham Bell
6)
Edmund Booth
7)
William Stokoe
8)
James Woodward
9)
I. King Jordan
10)
Robert Davila
Get
to know...
George
Veditz
George
Veditz was born in 1861 in Maryland. He became deaf
at age 8 due to scarlet fever. After years of unsuccessful
tutoring, he attended the Maryland School for the Deaf.
After graduation, he went to Gallaudet College, the
only college in the world for deaf students.
He
was twice elected president of the N.A.D. - The National
Association of the Deaf. This was at a critical time
for Deaf communities around the world. At that time,
the United States, and in fact all countries of the
world, had turned their backs on the native signed languages.
No country was using a signed language in education.
In many places, those attempting to use a signed language
in their classroom were ostracized and they could be
faced with dismissal. Sometimes there was outright persecution.
While in the 1800's, many teachers of the deaf were
deaf themselves, during the 1900's it became impossible
for many deaf to teach. They were not allowed to teach
in the language that was natural for them, natural for
their students, and the only means of students receiving
a quality education.
George
Veditz stood up to this challenge. To quote him "As
long as we have deaf people on earth, we will have sign
language.....it is God's noblest gift to deaf people".
In 1913, he used a new medium, film, to establish the
Sign Language Preservation Project capturing
on film some of the best signers of his time as a permanent
record. Those films are now archived in Washington,
D.C.
George
Veditz was right. American Sign Language, as we know
it today, has survived in spite of an aggressive, never-ending
assault that continues to this day. Because of his efforts
and the efforts of many others, ASL in now the fourth
most used language in the U.S. and is increasingly used
in schools for the deaf. Other countries have followed
this lead and are introducing or re-introducing signed
languages back into the classrooms of deaf students
around the world.
As
a spokesman for the Deaf community, as president of
the N.A.D., as a person of courage, he was tireless
in his efforts to maintain the rights and dignity of
deaf people. George Veditz died in 1937.