Alice Cogswell

                American Sign Language

Alice Cogswell wasn't born deaf, no she actually contracted an illness that was fatal back in her time. Nicknamed as "spotted fever" the true name of her illness was cerebral-spinal meningitis. This is an infection of the meninges, the thin covering of the brain and spinal cord. When Alice was two, she caught this illness causing her to lose her hearing. In later years it affected her speech, which she also ended up losing. Alice had a hard life, after losing her hearing, she was marked as disabled and unteachable. Causing her to act out and loose interest in everything. Only did her bright nature come back when a man named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet took an interest in the young deaf girl. He moved in as a neighbor when she was nine. Became friends with her farther, Dr. Mason Cogswell, soon asking what made Alice act the way she did. Different from the other children, uninterested and distant. Dr. Mason stated that she was deemed unteachable by her teachers once she lost her ability to hear. This intrigued Gallaudet, he took on the challenge of teaching the unteachable. Communicating with Alice by showing pictures, drawing words in the dirt, etc. He saw that through this young girls deafness, was someone who was teachable. Just no one could speak with her. On a mission he went to Europe for 15 months, studying with Laurent Clerc about French sign language. Then bringing his partner back to the Americas, together they developed the first form of American Sign Language. Then they began to open the first school for the deaf in the United States was founded April 15, 1817, in Hartford, Connecticut. With help from Alice's father and Laurent, Gallaudet began the teaching of American Sign Language. Alice, along with 6 other students, learned the current form of sign Language. Her and all new deaf people would soon all learn sign language; finally being able to be herd, in their own unique way. They created something that would unit millions of people, give them the courage to stand up for their rights as people. Just because someone can't hear, doesn't mean they are not able to do every day things such as you and me. The deaf people will have to fight more battles in the future, but developing the language was the first step. And no one would ever be able to talk with their hands if it weren't for the interest a young man took in a young girl who was uninterested.

After being taught this new development of sign language, she became a teacher along with her other companions. They began teaching new generations that they too can be understood. Whether you are born deaf, or have a misfortune there is always a bright side. For you are now part of an interconnecting circle around the world that unites you all into this community. More than a community, a culture who has beliefs, traditions. Sadly, Alice's life was cut short too soon. Exactly 20 days after her tragic father's death, she too died at the young, sweet age of 25 on December 30, 1830. Still a statue of her at the age of nine remains to this day outside of the American school of the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.