| The 1363rd meeting of the Connecticut
Academy of Arts and Sciences was held on Tuesday, November 15,
2005 at the New Haven Lawn Club. Some 40 members and their guests
enjoyed cocktails before the scheduled talk and dinner afterwards.
President Kohorn welcomed the audience and the Secretary, Margot
Kohorn announced the election of new members: Ralph D. Arcari,
Director National Network, Libraries of Medicine, Region 8 (New
England), Roger H. Colton, Anthropology Collections Manager,
Yale Peabody Museum, Robert W. Lyons, M.D. St. Francis Hospital,
Hartford and Yale School of Medicine and Nita J. Maihle, Ph.D.
Professor Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology
and Pharmacology, Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Kohorn then introduced the speakers for the evening, Dr. Harvey Colson, the first Director of the American School for the Deaf with a hearing impairment and Gary Wait, archivist for the school. Mr. Gary Wait began the presentation with a brief history of the school. The story of the American School for the Deaf (ASD) began more than a decade before its opening in Hartford in 1825. In March 1807 the two-year-old daughter of Dr. Mason Cogswell, a noted Hartford physician and surgeon, contracted spotted fever. Although she survived she was left deaf. But if disease had robbed her of her hearing it had not taken her intellect or her zest for life. As she grew it became evident to he parents that a full and meaningful life might yet be hers if only the doors of communication could be opened up to her. That in itself was revolutionary when most people regarded the deaf as doomed to intellectual ignorance and hopeless dependence. Aware of experiments in education of the deaf in England and in France, Dr. Cogswell obtained instructional materials from both Paris and London. Alice's sisters attended a private school and their teacher, Miss Huntley allowed Alice to attend also. An innovator in the field of education, Miss Huntley used the materials from Europe that Dr. Cogswell had to each Alice herself. By 1815 Alice was writing coherent paragraphs reflecting an active mind. A young ministerial student, Thomas Gallaudet, also took an interest in Alice and found that she understood the relationship between the written word and the object for which it stood. Encouraged by this Dr. Cogswell decided to establish a school for the deaf in America based on the European models. He persuaded Gallaudet to go to Europe to learn the techniques practiced there. Rebuffed by the English he traveled to Paris where he was trained in the French method of sign language, which is different from that used in England and that is still used in America today. So deaf Americans and deaf Frenchmen understand each other better than they do the deaf English. Gallaudet formed a friendship with a young teacher of the deaf, Laurent Clerc, and persuaded him to join him in founding a new school for the deaf in America. The curriculum was limited at first with just two subjects, communication skills and religion. However this did not equip students to earn an independent living once they completed their studies. The school met this challenge by adding vocational subjects such as wood working and tailoring. Gradually academic subjects were added to the curriculum and this response to the ever-changing needs of the students and society continue at ASD to this day. Dr Harvey Corson then presented a description of the myriad programs both at the school and in out reach that ASD had developed. Although Dr. Corson speaks very well he chose to deliver his presentation signing, with an interpreter relaying his words to the audience. There was another interpreter to sign the audiences' questions to Dr Corson. The interplay between the three was impressive and quite beautiful to watch. The audience had been given an opportunity to obtain a little insight into a whole new world of communication. |