39th Clip - Title: Behind Oralism’s Facade - (05:35 mins - 3:47:15 hours)
This post is for all deaf people who experienced oral classrooms and knew what was behind the facade of oralism in those schools. Sign language could not be suppressed. It is like if you try to move the light on a plant which then would grow toward wherever the light is. Suppress sign language and it’ll pop up somewhere else.
Watch what the deaf child saw behind the facade in Hein’s Castle. Click away . . .
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Commentary: We know very little of what was was life like in oral schools during the 18th and 19th centuries. We do have some information of student life in signing schools like in Paris from the writings of Clerc and Berthier. Not so for oral schools. What was it like to attend the Braidwood schools in England or the Heinicke school in Germany? We could guess safely that the oral students did sign behind their teachers’ backs and in the dormitory rooms. What did happen when they were caught signing? Hands slapped and/or what kinds of punishment did they receive? All this is subaltern or “minority” history that probably is lost in the mists of time. Historians might come across accounts overlooked in the files of those oral schools. Let’s hope they do find them and enlarge our understanding of deaf history in the 18th and 19th centuries.
38th Clip - Title: Hein’s First Experiment - (05:18 mins - 3:41:40 hours)
Caution: Graphic ASL description of an experimental cure of deafness. Not for the faint-hearted. A picture included.
This clip is posted in memory of those deaf people who needlessly suffered from painful experiments in the attempts by quacks, parents, scientists, and doctors from the past (and present) in curing their deafness and/or muteness. It is up to you to include the cochlear-implanted in this group of deaf people.
Enjoy the first of several horrible episodes in the deaf child’s stay in Hein’s Castle. Carefully click away . . .
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Commentary: In the annals of medical history, we see countless horrible experiments in curing anything undesirable in human life. Several journals and blogs explained those experiments in curing deafness. Even today, we see people trying to cure hearing loss, see this website. As in this clip, people poured liquid imaginable and not into the ears and tried to enlarge the Eustachian tubes by inserting various sticks into them. A small and smooth metal stick, called the “Eustachian catheter”, was invented for insertion into Eustachian tubes by the famous Dr. Itard, teacher of the Wild Boy of Aveyron (see page 132 to 134 of Lane’s book, When the Mind Hears).
This picture below (click on it to enlarge) was scanned from page 498 of the book: Looking Back: A Reader on the History of Deaf Communities and Their Sign Languages, edited by Renate Fischer and Harlan Lane, published by SIGNUM Press in Hamburg, Germany.
I want to share a story reflecting the nature of the clip here. I was a Montessori pre-school teacher for the Tripod school in 1988 and 1989. I remembered one 3 or 4 years old deaf boy who had a difficult time being separated from his parents, standing by the gate crying with his arms outstretched and hands clawing for several long minutes before I had to bring him inside the classroom. It went on for some weeks before this behavior began to subside. Anyway, for many weeks, I noticed cotton balls inside both of his ears. I had to inquire his parents’ on why, which was their homeopathic attempt in curing their son’s deafness. They put various liquids, some smelling bitter, some sweet, some both, in the cotton. Sure enough, as most of deaf people know, the parents stopped doing this and began the long process of accepting their son’s deafness.
37th Clip - Title: In Oral Classroom - (04:43 m. - 3:36:22 h.)
Many deaf people, including myself, had experienced oral classrooms therefore this clip is posted in salutation to them.
Enjoy observing the Deaf Child’s first experience in an oral classroom. Click away . . .
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36th Clip - Title: First Speech Lesson - (08:59 m. - 3:31:39 h.)
This clip is posted in gratitude to the 1992 committee of the GUAA’s Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund who granted funding for my airfare to Europe that summer. See here for this blog’s first deaf history video clip of the oldest oral school in Germany. I am grateful for GUAA’s support because this trip to various deaf history sites in Europe invaluably helped me visualize many scenes in the myth, even more so while presently enlarging the myth three times more. I will repeat my gratitude to the GUAA Clerc committee whenever I post myth clips having symbolic representations of places in Liepzig, Paris, Hartford, and Washington, D.C.
Enjoy the Deaf Child’s first speech lesson with Dr. Hein. Click away . . .
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I could not embed here my video of my visit to the Samuel Heinicke School in Liepzig, Germany. I will keep on trying. Meanwhile, please click on the words - Heinicke School - to view the video. Thank you. HEINICKE SCHOOL
Commentary: As you may notice, words used in the deaf child’s first speech lesson came from a different language. Yes, from the German language because it was in Germany where oralism first began (around the same time in England with the Braidwood schools) and was instrumental in spreading the oral method before the 1880 Milan Convention where Italian and French oral educators cemented the spread of oral method all over the world. The German words used in this clip were: sprechen, horle, taub, eule, vater, and mutter. Can you guess what they mean based on contextual clues in the clip?
Again this clip is too long. It can be split between after the speech lesson and the grieving mother’s return to the castle to sign the papers. I apologize for the length which could tax on your attention span. Thank you for you patience and continuing to view the clip(s).
Myth Commentary: In this TDC blog, I have not discussed the significance of the emergence of a myth in the deaf community. As the creator of a genuine mythology based on the Deaf Spirit, I felt it is arrogant and presumptuous for me to state that my story here is the myth of the Deaf because any story or epic becomes a myth only when its viewer/readers/users fall in love with it and declare it a sacred myth (or “bible-like” epic). My research/reading on the functions of mythology and religion in society have demonstrated to me that mythology plays a very critical role in making a community more cohesive and proud of themselves (very psychological). And that the deaf community has not yet seen, accept, love, and celebrate one that represent their Deaf spirit. People, both deaf and hearing, still do not understand the importance of the role mythology play in the their minds and souls.
Once deaf (and hearing) people fully understand and appreciate this (and any other) mythology, their Deafhood SOAR!
Let me close by sharing this anecdote. Few weeks ago, a deaf woman, a “famous” blogger, told me that viewing clips of this mythology is like reading the bible. I gasped at the truth she saw. She is beginning to grasp the full meaning of this myth and what it means for the deafhood of the deaf community. I have decided not to proselytize, attempt to “sell” this myth, or try to shove this story in any one’s throat (eyes). Truth and reality in life are best understood when voluntarily sought, and not forced upon.
May VisMa be with the readers/viewers/users of this sacred story.
Namaste’
35th clip. Title: Meeting Dr. Hein. (04:41 m. - 3:22:40 h.)
2 photos below. 1 is of a large painting of the Father of German Oralism: Samuel Heinicke and this inspired the name-sign for Dr. Hein. Another one is of a painting of his school which existed in the 1800’s until its destruction during World War 1. It was rebuilt and still exists today on the same site in Leipzig, Germany. Click here for their website.
Enjoy this clip of when the Deaf Child meets Doctor Hein for the first time. Click away . . .
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Two photos here. This is how Doctor Hein in the myth could look like - and how Hein’s Castle could look like.
Above is a cropped photo of a large painting of Samuel Heinicke, founder of first oral school for the deaf in Germany, hung in the front grand staircase on the second floor (when I visited there in 1992). Below is a painting of how the school looked before it was destroyed during the first world war. It was hung directly across from the painting above.
Commentary on the two pictures above: I visited the school in the summer of 1992, just a year or 2 after the communist government in East Germany fell. I could see evidence of communism all around the school - decaying buildings and huge empty lot right in front of the school. The school was out of session but I was able to visit the whole school thanks to one music teacher from the school, yes a music teacher of a deaf school! I have videotapes and slides of the visit and will convert into digitial and upload here someday soon. The teacher even took me to Samuel Heinicke’s family cemetery plot.
