Who are the famous deaf in the Deaf History?

Reba said:
I found it:

"Blindness cuts you off from things; deafness cuts you off from people." -- Helen Keller
Click to expand...

I see nothing wrong with this! I think it is a very interesting way of looking at being blind and deaf!
 
JClarke said:
Are you, what? A troll? Who cares if the hearing world knows about Marlee Matlin? The deaf community around the world knows her.
Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Deafilmedia
"They aren't famous, because I never heard of them. "
And Marlee Matlin isn't that famous either in the hearing world


You are joking I hope! If you did not know of a famous person , that made them not famous! WOW how arrogant can you get!
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I see nothing wrong with this! I think it is a very interesting way of looking at being blind and deaf!
Click to expand...

The problem is it's out of date now. In Helen Keller's era, it probably was true unless you were lucky enough to be among other deaf people. However now deafblindness doesn't have to mean that. I'm deafblind and I communicate all the time with people online.
 
Kalista said:
Oh gosh, I hate her. Helen Keller's Quote "Deaf people are dumb and feel sorry for themselves". I saw this somewhere in the article. I remember, Deaf people have no respect for Helen Keller, she thinks - DeafBlind is far better than Deaf. Jeeze...

My best friend, Elaine Durchame dislike her Quote either. Elaine is DeafBlind person. She gave a beautiful presentation at my base last October Disability National Awareness. Everyone loves Elaine.
Click to expand...

I'm deafblind too. I don't hate Helen Keller. I don't idolize her but I don't vilify her either. She was just a product of her time. She was influenced a lot by people who had audist ideas.
 
Reba said:
Beethoven lived in Germany. I don't know what was the popular mode of communication for deaf Germans at that time. However, Beethoven was a late-deafened adult, and I don't think he associated with other deaf people. The linked story about him says that he used note writing with his friends. They wrote the notes to him, and he spoke his replies to them. It also stated that he kept his deafness secret for many years. He was basically a hearing person who could no longer hear; he was not really a "Deaf" person.
Click to expand...

What do you mean Beethoven was not really a '"deaf person"! He lost his hearing and became deaf! Some people become blind later in life , does that mean they're not a real blind person! I had a client that lost her eyes sight and she was callled blind . Beethoven was a real deaf person , it does not matter how or why he was deaf !
 
whatdidyousay! said:
What do you mean Beethoven was not really a '"deaf person"! He lost his hearing and became deaf! Some people become blind later in life , does that mean they're not a real blind person! I had a client that lost her eyes sight and she was callled blind . Beethoven was a real deaf person , it does not matter how or why he was deaf !
Click to expand...

As in... Beethoven doesn't really know sign language. so... he's a famous late-deafened person without sign language.

I would have to say... in the hearing world, Beethoven (and Helen Keller) are the most famous deaf people that I know of. In the Deaf-World, we have a different concept of who is the most famous.

And A.G. Bell? He shouldn't even be counted as a Canadian... he only stayed there for a year in 1870 before he moved to the States.
 
Here's a Texas hero:

Erastus "Deaf" Smith (April 19, 1787 – November 30, 1837) was an American frontiersman noted for his part in the Texas Revolution and the army of the Republic of Texas. He fought at the Grass Fight and the Battle of San Jacinto. After the war, Deaf Smith led a company of Texas Rangers.

Deaf Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
What an interesting thread!!!! The early list includes Lou Fant as a famous Deaf person. Lou was the hearing son of Deaf parents and as such was instrumental in bringing ASL to the hearing world. He wrote one of the first popular books (dictionaries) of sign language as well as many other books. He created an incredible ASL interpretation of "Jabberwocky" a poem from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.
I was privileged to meet and hear Mr Fant at the 50th Anniversary Southern Baptist Convention of the Deaf held in Memphis in 1999 (about two years before his death) where he taught in the Interpreter Training Program for the year.
Probably someone else has already commented on Mr. Fant but I thought I'd share my memory. Bottom line, in my opinion after reading thru' this thread, most of the names in the original list--doesn't really matter if they are (were) Deaf or Hearing--they all affected Deaf culture in some wonderful (or once in a while a not so wonderful (AGBell) way.
Cheers,
 
sallylou said:
Here's a Texas hero:

Erastus "Deaf" Smith (April 19, 1787 – November 30, 1837) was an American frontiersman noted for his part in the Texas Revolution and the army of the Republic of Texas. He fought at the Grass Fight and the Battle of San Jacinto. After the war, Deaf Smith led a company of Texas Rangers.

Deaf Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

I met a rogue named Defsmith on World of Warcraft once and when I saw him, I asked him if he had heard of Deaf Smith. His answer made it clear that he knew of him so I asked him if he was deaf himself. Yep.. He's been inactive for quite a while so I don't think he plays anymore.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
What do you mean Beethoven was not really a '"deaf person"! He lost his hearing and became deaf! Some people become blind later in life , does that mean they're not a real blind person! I had a client that lost her eyes sight and she was callled blind . Beethoven was a real deaf person , it does not matter how or why he was deaf !
Click to expand...
Did you notice I said not "Deaf", that is big-D Deaf? That means, he didn't use sign language, he didn't associate with Deaf people, he didn't belong to the Deaf culture, he didn't advocate for Deaf awareness, and he didn't identify himself as "Deaf."

Beethoven was "deaf", not "Deaf", in contemporary classification.
 
A defsmith. Cool!

Note that "Deaf" is capitalized in Deaf Smith's case because it was his nickname. He was so identified with his nickname that no one remembers his real name.
 
Tousi said:
Thank you, Reba!! That is not pillorying deaf culture, now is it? I mean not really; it's just a personal opinion of HK's and who better to make that comparison? Lol....Thank you again, Reba!
Click to expand...

I agree with Tousi. The fact is HK was both deaf and blind. Given that she was deaf only, her opinion would have been different no doubt.
 
BecLak said:
I agree with Tousi. The fact is HK was both deaf and blind. Given that she was deaf only, her opinion would have been different no doubt.
Click to expand...

And during those times, deaf people were "institutionalized" as they should be shut off from society BUT they had excellent literacy skills, ironically.
 
Back
Top