Time line

1690	Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts settled by 200 immigrants from Kent County, England. By mid-1700s, the birthrate for deaf children was 1 in 25. Almost all inhabitants signed and public meetings were conducted in sign language. Children from the island attended the American School for the Deaf (est. 1817) and helped to influence French Sign Language to evolve into American Sign Language.

1755	The "father of the deaf," Charles Michel de l'Eppe, (1715-1790) establishes the first free school for the deaf in the world, the National Institute of Deaf Mutes, in Paris, France.

1760	Thomas Braidwood opens the first oral school for the Deaf in England

1785	Laurent Clerc is born. This Deaf French teacher taught Thomas Gallaudet to sign and helped to establish the first Deaf school in America.

1787	Thomas Gallaudet is born. Founder (along with Laurent Clerc) of the American School for the Deaf.

1805	Alice Cogswell is born. A chance encounter with Alice led Thomas Gallaudet led Alice's father, Mason Cogswell, to send Gallaudet to investigate methods of teaching Deaf children in Europe and to subsequently establish the American School for the Deaf.

1814	Thomas Gallaudet first encounters Alice Cogswell

1817	Connecticut Asylum for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (later renamed the American School for the Deaf), the first permanent school for Deaf people in America, opens in Hartford on April 15. The first teachers are Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc.

1823	Kentucky School for the Deaf opens, the first state supported school.

1837	St. Joseph's School for the Deaf, the first Catholic deaf school in the U.S., opens in St. Louis, Missouri

1839	Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind becomes the first school to serve both deaf children and blind children.

1846	American Annals of the Deaf begins publication at the American School in Hartford.

1864	Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb (later renamed Gallaudet College) is established. Charter signed by Abraham Lincoln, its first patron. Edward Miner Gallaudet, son of Thomas and Sophia Fowler-Gallaudet, named the insitution's first president.

1867	The first purely oral school in the U.S., The New York Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf Mutes, (later renamed the Lexington School for the Deaf) opens on March 1 in New York City.

	Clarke School for the Deaf, Northampton, Massachusetts, opens.

	Horace Mann, the first permanent day school in the U.S. is established.

1872	Alexander Graham Bell opens speech school for teachers of the deaf in Boston.

1876	A.G. Bell patents the telephone invention.

1878	EZ Westervelt introduces the Rochester Method at the New York School.

	First International Congress on Education of the Deaf meets in Paris.

1880	The National Association of the Deaf organizes in Cincinnati, OH.

	International Congress on Education of the Deaf meets in Milan, Italy and adopts infamous resolution banning the use of sign language in teaching deaf children.

	Helen Keller is born in Tuscambia, Alabama. Lost both her hearing and sight at age 19 months.

1883	A.G. Bell publishes "Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race." Advocates prohibiting deaf persons from marrying and forced sterilization to prevent the spread of deafness.

1887	Women first admitted to the Columbia Institution (later Gallaudet College).

	AG Bell establishes the Volta Bureau.

1889	On June 19, William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy throws out three Indianapolis base runners at home plate from the outfield—the first of only three outfielders in history to do so.

1890	A.G. Bell founds and endows the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (later renamed the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf).

1894	The Columbia Institution for Deaf and Dumb Persons renamed Gallaudet College in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

1901	William "Dummy" Hoy hits the first grand-slam home run in the newly-formed American League.

	The National Fraternal Society of the Deaf (NSFD) is formed. Known as the "Frat," this organization provides insurance, burial benefits, life insurance and advocated for equal treatment for Deaf drivers.

1902	Helen Keller earns a BA degree cum laude at Radcliffe College.

1913	National Association of the Deaf raises funds for a film project to preserve ASL. Produced films featuring George Veditz, John Hotchkiss, Robert McGregor, and Edward Miner Gallaudet.

1915	Juliette "Daisy" Low, a Deaf woman who helped to found the Girl Scouts, is named the organization's first president.

1921	Earl C. Hansen patents the first vacuum-tube hearing aid.

1931	Convention of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf establishes teacher certification for teachers of the Deaf.

1937	Ernest Marshall produces a motion picture in Sign Language for Deaf audiences.

1942	John Tracy Clinic opens in Los Angeles.

1950	First transistor hearing aid is marketed.

1951	The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) is established in Rome.

1957	American Council of Learned Societies awards research grant to William Stokoe to begin his research into American Sign Language.

1958	President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs PL 85-905, establishing Captioned Films for the Deaf.

1960	William Stokoe publishes the first linguistic study of ASL: Sign Language Structure: An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf.

1962	The National Leadership Training Program (NLTP) established at San Fernando Valley College (renamed California State University, Northridge in 1972).

1964	Workshop on Interpreting for the Deaf meets at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, June 14-17. Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf is born.

	Robert H. Weitbrecht invents a coupling device (TTY) permitting Deaf people to use teletypewriters to send messages over telephone lines.

	California State University, Northridge begins program for Deaf students.

1965	Bernard Bragg, a Deaf actor, stars in the television program, The Silent Man.

	The Babbidge Report presented to U.S.Congress investigates oral deaf education, finding it a "dismal failure" and recommends alternative methods of instruction.

	PL 89-333, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act Amendment is passed; authorizes affiliate state rehabilitation agencies to employ interpreters for Deaf clients.

	William Stokoe, Dorothy Casterline, and Carl Cronenberg publish A Dictionary of American Sign Language.

1966	The Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) is established on the campus of Gallaudet University.

1967	The National Theater of the Deaf is founded by David Hays at the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theatre in Waterford, Connecticut.

1968	National Technical Institute for the Deaf opens on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

1970	Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Studies established at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego. Ursula Bellugi is director and begins research on ASL

	First graduate course on the structure of ASL taught at Gallaudet College by William Stokoe.

1971	LRL (Linguistics Research Labratory) is founded at Gallaudet College, directed by William Stokoe.

	First presentation on ASL at Linguistic Society of America conference given by James Woodward.

1972	First text on teaching ASL (Ameslan) is published by Lou Fant, Jr.

	American universities begin to accept ASL to satisfy language requirements for Ph.D. programs. Among the first are American University, New York University, and the University of Minnesota.

	RID begins national certification of sign language interpreters.

	William Stokoe begins publishing the journal Sign Language Studies.

1973	Congress passes the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 mandates the provision of interpreters for Deaf people in educational and occupational situations.

1974	The National Association of the Deaf conducts a census of Deaf Americans; counts 13.4 million "hearing impaired" and 1.8 million culturally Deaf Americans.

1975	Congress passes PL 94-142, "The Education of All Handicapped Children Act."

1976	Dr. Frank Hochman graduates with his M.D. from Rutgers Medical School, becoming the " ... first born-deaf American to complete medical training, earn a degree, and become a physician."

1977	Congress passes the Bilingual, Hearing and Speech Impaired Court Interpreter Act; mandates appointment and subsidy of interpreters for Deaf persons in any criminal or civil action initiated by the federal government.

1978	First undergraduate course in ASL structure offered at Gallaudet University. ASL Linguistics Department established.

1979	National Captioning Institute forms to prepare captioned programs for television.

	Gallaudet undergraduate faculty officially recognizes ASL as a viable means of communicaton which may be used in classes.

	The movie Voices debuts. Featuring a hearing actor in the role of a Deaf character, the movie sparked protests and a boycott by Deaf people across the country. The film was eventually withdrawn.

1980	ABCs of ASL is published; first sign language text by Deaf authors (Padden, Humphries, and O'Rourke).

1984	FDA first approves Choclear implants in persons 18 years of age and older.

1986	Marlee Matlin, a Deaf actress, wins the Academy Award for best actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God. Matlin generated great controversy in the Deaf community by speaking, rather than signing, her acceptance speech.

1988	Students march on Gallaudet University, demanding the appointment of a deaf president. I. King Jordan, a Deaf man, subsequently named the university's first Deaf president in it's 124-year history.

	"Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf" published by U.S. Congress; calls for ASL to be used as the "primary medium of language instruction" for Deaf students.

1990	The Americans with Disabilities Act signed into law by President George Bush.

	Deaf Way takes place in Washington, D.C. International conference attracts more than 5,000 Deaf people from nearly 70 countries.

1993	ADA law mandates closed-captioning decoder chips in all televisions over 13" manufactured in or imported into the United States.

2003	Videophone technology becomes widely available, granting Deaf people greater comfort and autonomy in telephone communications.

2006	Students once again march on Gallaudet University, demanding the Board of Trustees rescind its appointment of Dr. Jane Fernandez as I. King Jordan's successor as president. The GUFSSA (Gallaudet University Faculty, Students, Staff, and Alumni) galvanized Deaf students across the U.S. and ultimately prevailed in their efforts to have a voice in the naming of Jordan's successor.