Argumentative Essay On Deaf Education

In 1814, Thomas Gallaudet went to France to search for a way to teach deaf people how to speak. During the process, he met Laurent Clerc who taught French Sign Language and they worked together to create American Sign Language. They met a wealthy business man known as Mr. Cogswell who had a deaf daughter named Alice. Together they worked to teach Alice American Sign Language then "people in the U.S. began to understand that deaf people could learn to communicate." Soon after, deaf schools started opening up and eventually, there was one in every state. There are many deaf schools but only one university in the world, Gallaudet. In the U.S., there are approximately 38 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people. There are even about 45,000 individuals who are deaf and blind. An interesting fact, 90% of deaf children have hearing parents but most often the parents will not want to learn to sign. When the parent does want the child to learn, they often try to find a deaf school for that child. With each state having a school for the deaf, often the larger deaf communities surround it. Those who are deaf and involved in their communities are considered Deaf with a capital "d". Dr. Malcolm said, "Deaf people value and respect their Culture in the same way Hispanics or African Americans

Ron Malcolm was hard-of-hearing as a child and by the 6th grade had become deaf. He began to learn Signed English at first, but as he met more deaf people he learned American Sign Language. Growing up he the only deaf child at his school. Even with his 5 brothers and 2 sisters he is the only deaf one of the family and the only one to graduate high school out of his entire family. After high school, he started to meet more deaf people and he says, "I began to understand my own identity and discover my culture." Dr. Ron Malcolm went to Gallaudet University and graduated in 1997, where he received his third Master's Degree in Counseling and became more immersed in the Deaf