Deafness

== History ==
{{Main|Deaf history}}
The first known record of [[History of sign language|sign language in history]] comes from [[Plato]]'s [[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]], written in the fifth century BCE. In a dialogue on the "correctness of names", [[Socrates]] says, "Suppose that we had no voice or tongue, and wanted to communicate with one another, should we not, like the deaf and dumb, make signs with the hands and head and the rest of the body?"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cratylus, by Plato|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1616/1616-h/1616-h.htm|access-date=2022-02-05|website=gutenberg.org}}</ref> His belief that deaf people possessed an innate intelligence for language put him at odds with his student [[Aristotle]], who said, "Those who are born deaf all become senseless and incapable of reason," and that "it is impossible to reason without the ability to hear".

This pronouncement would reverberate through the ages and it was not until the 17th century when manual alphabets began to emerge, as did various treatises on [[deaf education]], such as ''Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos'' ('Reduction of letters and art for teaching mute people to speak'), written by [[Juan Pablo Bonet]] in Madrid in 1620, and ''Didascalocophus, or, The deaf and dumb mans tutor'', written by [[George Dalgarno]] in 1680.

In 1760, French philanthropic educator [[Charles-Michel de l'Épée]] opened the [[Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris|world's first free school for the deaf]]. The school won approval for government funding in 1791 and became known as the "Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris|url=https://www.injs-paris.fr/sites/www.injs-paris.fr/files/linjs_de_paris_-historique.pdf}}</ref> The school inspired the opening of what is today known as the [[American School for the Deaf]], the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States, and indirectly, [[Gallaudet University]], the world's first school for the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing, and to date, the only higher education institution in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.