Arkansas State press., 1941-10-03
y News For Youth !
- r 4 ~ - I
MRS. PAULINE PURYEAR
Talking Without
Words
Thanks to man named Gallaudet,
thousands now can-and do
BY KOlma McIlyain Flake

Something over century ago,
welve-year-old Alice Cogswell en-
ountered young man in the gar
en- of her fathers home in Hart
ford, Connecticut, The young man,
Thomas Galiaudet, had just COM
pleted his theological studies. He
was waiting for an interview with
the girls father, whom he hoped
might aid him to determine his
field as missionary. Alice had
been deaf since she was two years
old and. at that time, deaf -mutes
were classified among the feeble
minded and insane.
idly, Gallaudet attracted her at,
tention with few simple ges-
ures. To pass the time, he casual
ly pointed to his headgear and
with a stick wrote on the ground
HAT. A CLEAN of understanding
passed over the child's face. She
grabbed the stick, copied the word,
took the hat and placed it upon
her own head. Pointing to another
object, she handed back the crude
"pencil." Communication had been
established.
Thomas Gallaudet's life there
after-and his work for the edu-
cation of the deaf---is a story in
itself. But what grow out of the
garden encounter?
Last July more than 500 repre-
sentatives of the National Assoc
iation of the Deaf met in Los An
geles to discuss the problems of
the 10000 totally deaf persons of
the United States. They were men
and women who had lost their
hearing in infancy or early child
rood. H.yM
New Valuable Citizens
They could point with justifi-
able pride to what they have ac-
complished. They have learned to
talk among themselves with the
aid of the beautiful pantominie
mimic sign language. They are able
communicate with others by
mechanical speech and lip-reading,
or by writing.
They have educated themselves
to play their part in industry un-
til today deafmutes are found p
ALMOST every type of job in which
hearing is not absolutely essential.
They work as civil engineers, fur
riers, tailors, presser, heautyshop
operators, BARRIERS, shoe repairers,
hpholsterers, mechanics, carpen-
ters, cabinetmakers, linotype OPP
orators, bookbinders, commercial
artists, photographers, bakers and
so on down to ditchdiggers. And
some of their number have won
outstanding fame as engineers and
chemists and in the arts.
They have accomplished this
espite the fact that only few of
our large businesses will employ
them. But wherever big business
has given them a chance they have
proved their ability. Witness what
the Goodyear Tire and Rubber
company said recently: "Deaf-
mutes definitely made place for
themselves in the company. They
attended to business. They were
quick to learn. They were retent-
i've SkeptIcal at first, fore
men learned to think well of the
mutes, welcomed them in their de-
partments. The most extraordln-
airy event was the organization OF
the Flying Squadron of 100 mutes,
who mastered all the major oper-
atoms in the plant and so could
be moved around at will to balance
production"
Successful Battle
They fought and won the battle
to be treated as normal persons,
not only in business, but in the
other activities Of life as we'll For
example, the state associations of
the deaf have resisted successful
" every effort to bar deaf-mutes,
as a group, from obtaining auto
mobile drivers licenses. In Ohio
they proved that their percentage
of accidents is lower, that their
greater arc Of vision from left to
right more than compensated for
lack of hearing.
Since insurance companies re-
garded the idea as bad risks and
would not insure them, the deaf
mutes organized their own COM
pany in 1901. The National Frat
ernal Society Of the Deaf-run
entirely by the deaf, from the
president and board of directors
on down-has written insurance
on more than 10000 deaf 1olks,
and today its assets are S2,2o0'-
600. So successfully has the old
belief that the deaf are bad insu-
rance risks been blasted that to-
day this society has considerable
competition from regular insur-
ance companies.
Education facilities have been
improved and expanded, until to-