milan congress 1880 facts - one Deaf educatr present (Denison)

Facts and quotes from the ICED Milan Congress of 1880 where oralism was delcared to be superior to sign and thus began the banishment of natural sign languages in classrooms, dorm rooms, and living rooms across the globe.
How would you have voted?
see www.milancongress.com for quotes and other information
see A Place of Their Own for facts and details
(note this video is corrected - the previous one misspelled Denison's name on the photo)

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Deaf
• Natural
• Sign
• Language
• Milan
• Italy
• 1880
• ICED
• oralism
• Denison

[Banerika]

Thanks for sharing this history with us. It's unbelievable that this group had so much power to make this decision in the first place. And it's horrifying and ugly that A.G. Bell continues the "tradition."

[pdurr]

yes it is unbelievable the weight and damage this unjust decision has caused on the lifes of Deaf children and their families across the globe. I have never been able to understand why Oralism demands exclusivity in the educational sphere other than the fact that when a natural sign language is present it is often preferred - hence the rarity of someone remaining a pure oralist into adulthood.

Peace

patti

[jarhead1050]

The number of attendees and the total number of votes don't jibe. There was one attendee from Sweden who voted against the resolutions. How did the source get the figures? Counting the Swede's vote, the number of opposing votes doesn't match the number 6. If nevertheless the number 6 is according to some independent records, it could be that the deaf Denison was not allowed to vote, leaving the 4 Americans, one Briton and one Swede to make the sum of six.

[jarhead1050]

There is one more vote from one Swedish attendees, named Eckhorn (or similarly), who voted against the resolutions. How did the source get the number of six opposing votes. If the number is correct according to some records, it could be that there were only 4 Americans voting against, with Denison not allowed to vote, one Briton Elliott and the Swede Eckhorn.

[TheDeafwanderer]

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!

What more can I say?

Wayne

[pdurr]

Cool charles - the book A Place of Their Own mentions that this Stoddard was on the board of directors of the New York Institution. Let me know what you find out

much peace

patti