Who is Bell?

Speech instruction to a deaf child.

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland, March 3, 1847.  Mr. Bell, throughout his life, had his share of sad, sad times.  He lost both his brothers (Melvil James Bell and Edward Charles Bell) to tuberculosis.  His own son died in infancy, his mother was deaf and so was his wife.  Many people find it unbearable to handle the loss of a sibling, let alone one's child.  Mr. Bell truly suffered, one can only imagine.  In spite of all that, he was a scholar. He never stopped plowing ahead, trying to make the world better, and for some people he did. For others? Well..."Alexander Graham Bell is often portrayed as either hero or villain of deaf individuals and the Deaf community." Villain or Hero, no one can deny his Genius.(Marschark, Spring2005)

The telephone (1876) is his most memorable invention, of course, but it certainly wasn't his only invention. I am still baffled at the fact that I could hear my oldest son's voice...his voice (I would know it anywhere), over the telephone wire here in Texas, while he was thousands of miles away in Japan. That's amazing!  Still, in spite of all his success, Alexander Graham Bell couldn't find a way to make his mother, Eliza Grace (nor his wife, Mabel Hubbard), hear a single sound. Neither one of them was able to use his greatest masterpiece, his telephone. 

For his brilliance, his inventions, his teaching of speach to people with hearing disabilities, "Bell had the respect of the most prominent American eugenicists."  (Greenwald, Spring2009) So what did he do to the Deaf Community, that was so bad they condidered him a villain? He was the greatest advocate for Oralism, and that did not set well in the Deaf Community.  "Led by Alexander Graham Bell, oralists sought to integrate Deaf people into hearing society by teaching them speech and lipreading.  Strict oralists demanded the elimination of sign language, believing that it undermined English language acquisition and promoted Deaf separatism" (Burch, 5). 

Sources:

Burch, S. (2002). Sign of Resistance. New York: New York University Press.

Greenwald, B. H. (Spring2009). The Real "Toll" of A.G. Bell: Lessons about Eugenics. Sign Language Studies, Vol. 9 issue 3, p258-265, 8p.

Marschark, M. (Spring2005). The Question of Sigh-Language and the Utility of Signs in the Instruction of the Deaf: Two Papers by Alexander Graham Bell (1898). Journal of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education, Vol. 10 Issue 2, p111-121, 11p.

Photo Source:

http://my.gallaudet.edu/bbeswebdav/institution/Deaf

Can You Hear Me Now?

When I was approximately 11 years old, I remember being in the canned food section of the grocery store "Levels" on Montgomery Street, in Fort Worth, Texas.  While my mother was carefully canvassing the shelves for whatever it was she was looking for, I noticed a Deaf man struggling to communicate with a woman in the same isle.  I was fascinated to say the least.  The woman gave him a dollar and he gave her a little card.  He made a gesture, which I now know to mean "Thank you." The Deaf man approached my mother and I.  Without taking my eyes off of him, I asked my mom for a dollar.  She rummaged through her purse, gave me the dollar and I quickly gave it to him. On the little card was the manual alphabet.  I immediately started to practice each and every letter. I had A-E memorized before we left the market.  I practiced for days, then months until I had every letter memorized.  Fast forward 38 years.  I'm now 49 years old and last semester successfully completed ASL IV. 

During my ASL classes, I was surprised to learn that Alexander Graham Bell was so disliked by a great number of Deaf Americans.  I have always considered Mr. Bell one of the great inventors. Along with electricity, the light bulb and written language,  the telephone is arguably one of the most important inventions for mankind.  He originally invented the telephone because he thought it would help Deaf people somehow.  Obviously, that was not the case.  I mean really, they couldn't hear.  Alexander Graham Bell's mother was Deaf and so was his wife.  So, it baffled many people that Mr. Bell tried so hard and succeeded in banning American Sign Language (or Sign Language of any kind) from educational schools or institutions.  Why would a man who became so rich and famous for facilitating communication, fight so hard to strip a culture (so close to him) from their natural language?

With my research, I hope to answer that question and many more.