In the American Annals of the Deaf Vol. I, No. 1 October 1847 there appeared an article written by Laurent Clerc. It recounted his trip in 1846 to France. The article was entitled “Visits to some of the schools for the Deaf and Dumb in France and England”. Laurent wrote: “ I obtained leave of the Directors of the American Asylum to visit France on private business; but I did not avail myself of this permission till the month of August following.” “On the 8th (August), I embarked at New York...

Three years ago I received an email from a woman who was experiencing progessive hearing loss. She told me a story of her life as a pianist and the impact of losing her hearing. She and her young daugther, Haley, loved music theatre and going to shows. However, when they went to the shows they could not enjoy them without ASL interpreters and when they did have them they were off to the side, which meant they missed the action. It was then and there that they decided to create their own ASL...

There is some evidence that Laurent only made it to Paris and then to America due to him being part of the gentry of La Balmes-les-Grottes. We know that his father was the royal notary or mayor of the village until his death. He survived the Revolution but did not have the money to send Laurent to the school in Paris, requiring that his godfather, Laurent, fuding his first year there in 1797. Laurent certainly resembles a landed gentry of the times, here portrayed in 1822 by Charles Willson...