Deaf-Mutes

DEAF-MUTES. - How many lack the faculty of hearing and speech. In the congenital form, or one that develops in the very first years of life, although it may depend on defects of the peripheral apparatuses, deaf-mutism is often linked to "verbal deafness" due to cortical and subcortical lesions of the temporal lobe (sensory audimutism).

Damage to these encephalic regions can be produced through a germinal mechanism, in relation to hereditary factors (genotypic or idiotypic alterations), or to traumas suffered during gestation and childbirth, or to infectious diseases (meningo-encephalitis) that affected the individual during intrauterine life or in the first years after birth. Many hold that the deaf-mute are frequently the children of blood relatives (particularly cousins); not rarely deaf-mutism is linked to cretinism. The defect may be complete or only partial, so that more or less abundant residues of auditory capacity remain preserved. True deaf-mutism must be distinguished from mutism due to delayed development (S. De Sanctis), which usually does not persist beyond the third year of life and is of familial origin; nor should it be confused with motor audimutism, in which, although the auditory apparatus is intact and verbal hearing is preserved, the individual is incapable of speaking spontaneously.

Deaf-mutism, if not susceptible of education or left to itself, leads to an arrest of the psychic faculties and to a grave deficiency of the intellectual endowment.

Giuseppe de Ninno

I. EDUCATION

Pedagogically, the deaf-mute may be considered as sensory abnormals; they possess, in fact, the capacity to express their thoughts and desires in other ways than, at least at the beginning, the spoken word — for example, through the mimicry of gestures, the different placement and interlacing of the fingers, writing. Hence, favored by the development of the experimental sciences, the study of rediscovering and gradually perfecting the methods and means to overcome as perfectly as possible the anomaly of deaf-mutism.

1. History. The occasion of the intense modern movement, so broad and effective, on behalf of the deaf-mute dates back only to the beginnings of the 16th century. The distinguished humanist Rodolphus Agricola (1443-85) had mentioned having seen, to his great surprise, a deaf-mute exchanging discourses and reasonings with others by means of writing (De inventione dialectica, I, III, ch. 16); to this wonder the physician Girolamo Cardano (1501-76) responded by observing that writing is associated with the word, the word with thought; but that written characters can also be associated together even without the intervention of sounds, whereby a deaf-mute can hear by reading and speak by writing (Paralipomena, III, ch. 8: De surdo et muto litteras edocto). Hence the consequence that the word is by no means necessary to the development of intelligence, although it is its most effective and adequate means, and that by means of a substitution of sensory stimuli the deaf-mute can be brought to the visible expression of his thought by means of signs that appeal to sight, given that appeals by other routes remain impassable and insurmountable.

There remained, now, the task of finding practically the way to actualize this ascertained possibility of instructing the deaf-mute. The first attempt was undertaken by the Benedictine monk Pedro Ponce de León (1520-84) of the monastery of S. Salvador de Oña. Starting from the principle that the spoken word is not only an auditory phenomenon but also a visual one, he thought to induce the deaf-mute to imitate the movements that the vocal organ performs in the very act of pronouncing a given alphabetic letter or syllable or word; thus, by imitating the visible element one could arrive at obtaining, on the part of the deaf-mute, also the audible element. Having adopted writing as the initial means, he succeeded in making the deaf-mute pronounce all the letters of the alphabet, then the various syllables and finally the various words; the names of the various objects represented by them, to do calculations, to recite prayers with understanding, to confess orally. He left nothing written about his method; but not long afterward the Aragonese priest Juan Pablo Bonet, who followed its procedures, also set them forth in a theoretical-practical treatise: Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar los mudos (Madrid 1620), the first treatise of special didactics for the deaf-mute. He made use of a manual alphabet, invented a system of visible signs representing the sound of words, and also gave a description of the position of the vocal organs in the pronunciation of individual letters, adding effective suggestions, still in use among modern practitioners of vocal articulation and lip-reading.

The Jesuit physicist Francesco Lana Terzi (1631-87), after mentioning some examples of excellent success of the oral method, lingers to describe its art "vera-

ably admirable," the same as that of Ponce and Bonet, observing that "each of us, even before he had the use of reason, learned to utter words with the wondrous skill of nature which, spurred by necessity, strove to imitate the speech of others by giving the lips various movements, until it found the one that articulated the sought-for word" (Prodromo overo Saggio di alcune invenzioni nuove, Brescia 1670, p. 48). The celebrated philologist Lorenzo Hervas y Panduro (1735-1809) also, a missionary in America, published: Escuela española de surdo-mutos (2 vols., Madrid 1795), in which he insists especially on the method of teaching the deaf person the meaning of abstract words, of the terms of philosophy, theology, sociology, etc.

Meanwhile Bonet's method spread through England and Scotland through the work of Kenelm Digby (1603-65), followed by some members of the Phonosophic Society of London, above all by John Bulwer (1600-69), who with his works Chirologia and Chironomia (London 1644) and Philocophus (ibid. 1648) set out to demonstrate that the acoustic phenomenon of speech is transformed for the deaf person into a visual phenomenon, in which lies the essence of lip-reading, which makes usable in social life the articulated word with or without phonation, in the mutual relations between deaf-mutes, and between deaf-mutes and hearing speakers. In this way he completed Bonet's theory, which had neglected lip-reading in order to dwell on communication with the pupil by means of a manual alphabet. Other members followed him: John Wallis (1616-1703), William Holder (1616-1698). All these treated the subject in separate works, recognizing for the instructors of deaf-mutes a prominent place in the history of phonetics. On the same line are to be remembered for Scotland George Dalgarno (1626-87) of Aberdeen, who published in 1661 Ars signorum and in 1680 Didascalocophus or Deaf and dumb man's tutor, inventing a twofold manual alphabet; for Holland, G. B. von Helmont (1618-99) with his dissertation published in 1682: Surdus loquens, and John Conrad Amman (1669-1724), of Swiss origin, who in 1700 published Dissertatio de loquela, a work that occupies one of the first places in the didactic literature of deaf-mutism.

Germany, in this field, created nothing original, but translated several of the works mentioned and put them effectively into practice. There above all Samuel Heinicke (1729-90) distinguished himself, called the great champion of the oral method (against the sign method of the Abbé de l'Epée), who founded in Leipzig in 1778 the first public institute for deaf-mutes in Germany and gave a more logical application to the principles established by Bonet, by Wallis and by Amman. In this contest he had been preceded by Wilhelm Kerger (1620-85), George Raphel (1673-1740) and Ferdinand Arnoldi (1737-83). He was followed, instead, by Frederick Maurice Hill (1805-74), considered the true founder of the so-called "German method," in opposition to the "French method."

The latter was proclaimed and disseminated by the Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée (1712-89). Moved by compassion for the sad condition of deaf-mutes, he wished to remedy it, and having observed how they, even before receiving any instruction, communicated among themselves in play and in other occupations by a kind of pantomime and used natural gestures signifying objects and their qualities and powers, he fixed upon the idea of using, as a means of instruction, the language of signs. If words are conventional signs of ideas, why can natural gestures not also be such? He therefore made himself familiar with the not numerous gestures observed, added others of his own invention, and in 1760 opened in Paris the first school for deaf-mutes, which he directed until his death, leaving as his successor the Abbé Ambroise Sicard (1742-1822), who introduced important improvements to complete the flawed work of his predecessor.

The Paris school soon rose to European and world fame, both because the sign method was easier and extendable to a greater number of deaf-mutes, and because educators of every nation were invited there, who were then able to move their respective governments or groups of charitable persons to establish other schools in the various nations, in which the methods learned at the school of de l'Epée and Sicard might be applied. Thus from Rome there came the priest Tommaso Silvestri, who then in 1784, through the interest of the consistorial advocate Pasquale di Pietro, who had sent him to Paris, would found in Rome the first Italian institute for deaf-mutes; from Austria the priest F. Stork and G. May, who then opened an institute in Vienna in 1779; from Switzerland the parish priest Keller (1728-1802). Nor did America remain behind in the movement now under way. The institute for deaf-mutes that had arisen in Edinburgh in 1760 through the work of Thomas Braidwood had already attempted to establish other schools in 1812 in Virginia, New York and Baltimore, but with negative results. Therefore the priest Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was sent to Europe, who, having met with the Abbé Sicard, visited his school in Paris, studied its methods and obtained from it, as an aid for his future undertaking, the best of the pupils, Laurent Clerc. Returning to his homeland, he founded at Hartford (Connecticut) the first American institute for deaf-mutes in 1817.

Thus one enters, after a sufficiently slow and arduous journey, into the 19th century, which may rightly be called for all civilized nations the golden age of assistance to those impaired in hearing and speech, both for the number of institutions that arose and for the decisions taken in various congresses in favor of the oral method and of the insertion of deaf-mutes into common social life.

Nor should it be passed over in silence that this is due in a quite particular manner to the initiatives and efforts of the secular and regular clergy and of the numerous female religious Congregations, which embraced among their activities also the integral education of deaf-mutes, guiding them both to the conquest of speech with scientific methods and ever more perfected apparatus, and to the learning of a trade for life through craft schools.

In Italy, the flowering was truly marvelous. Following, as a sample, the Guida D. Annuario della Scuola e della cultura, published by the Centro Didattico Nazionale of Florence (Florence-Rome 1951, pp. 788-97), one has the following Institutes: a) State - Rome, State Institute for deaf-mutes, founded in 1841 by the pontifical government; Milan, National State Institute for deaf-mutes, which arose in 1805 as a private school through the work of the Lyonnais Antoine Eyraud and was declared a government institute by imperial decree of 1818; Palermo, State Institute for deaf-mutes of Sicily, founded in 1834 by Ferdinand II of Bourbon.

b) Recognized - Alessandria, Institute for deaf-mutes, founded in 1893 through the initiative of the priest Federico Sbrocca; Assisi (Perugia), Seraphic Institute for deaf-mutes, founded in 1871 by Fr. Ludovico da Casoria; Bari, Pius Institute "Filippo Smaldone," founded and directed by the Salesian Sisters of the Sts. Cuori, established by the priest F. Smaldone; Bergamo, Institute for the deaf and mute of both sexes, arising through the initiative of civic charity in 1843, entrusted to the Canossian Sisters, who left it in 1860; Bologna, "Gualandi" Institute, founded in 1850 by the priest brothers Cesare and Giuseppe Gualandi, who were also founders of two religious Congregations, male and female, specifically for the education of the deaf and mute, under the name of "Little Mission for the Deaf and Mute"; Brescia, Pius Institute "Pavoni," founded in 1827 by Canon Ludovico Pavoni; Cagliari, Institute for the deaf and mute, founded through the initiative of Ignazio Argiolas in 1882 and entrusted to the Daughters of Charity; Catanzaro, Provincial Institute for the deaf and mute, founded in 1859 by the priest Luigi Aiello; Catania, "Maddalena di Canossa" Institute, founded by the Canossian Sisters; "Tito Minniti" Educational Circle, a state orthophonic school, operated in 1949-50; Crema, Work for the poorest deaf and mute, founded by the blessed Maddalena di Canossa in 1840; Cremona, Boys' School for the deaf and mute, founded in 1847 by Msgr. Antonio Padovani and entrusted to the Canossian Sisters; Institute of the Canossian Sisters, founded by the same in 1947; Cuneo, Institute for deaf and mute boys and girls, founded in 1902 by the local Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph; Fano (Pesaro), "Palazzi Zavarese" Institute, for deaf and mute girls, founded by Msgr. Pietro Bonilli and entrusted to the Sisters of the Holy Family; Florence, National Institute for the deaf and mute, arising in 1899 through the work of the Florentine Patronage Society for the education of the deaf and mute; Genoa, National Institute for the deaf and mute, arising as a private school in 1801 through the work of the Barnabite Father G. B. Ottavio Assarotti (v.), and in 1805 becoming an official school; State School for speech-disordered persons, founded in 1934-33 by the Municipality; Contubernio d'Albertis Institute, founded in 1866 by Msgr. G. B. d'Albertis, with a Patronage for former pupils; Giulianova (Teramo), "Gualandi" Institute, a branch of the one in Bologna, founded in 1903; Gorizia, Provincial Institute for the deaf and mute, founded in 1940 by Msgr. Valentino Stanig; Lecce, "Filippo Smaldone" Institute, arising in 1885 through the care of the priest F. Smaldone; Licea (Agrigento), School for the deaf and mute (orthophonic), operating in 1947-48; Milan, Pius Institute for the poor deaf and mute, created through the initiative of Count Paolo Taverna and the priest Eliseo Ghislandi. The priest Giulio Tarra then poured into it all his [efforts] as a minister of God and a scholar of the problems of psychology, pedagogy and didactics; dependent on this house are: the "Casa lavoro" of Vedano Olona for former pupils and the Casa dei sordoparlanti of Milan for the re-education of young deaf and mute persons and as a meeting place for former pupils; "Giulio Tarra" Special School, opened by the Municipality in 1910 for otolaryngopathic persons; Molfetta (Bari), Provincial "Apicella" Institute, arising in 1863 through the care of the priest Luigi Aiello; Modena, Institute of the Daughters of Providence for deaf and mute girls "Severino Fabriani," arising in 1822 through the initiative of the priest S. Fabriani; Mogliano Veneto (Treviso), Provincial Institute for the deaf and mute; Mompiano (Brescia), Canossian Institute for deaf and mute girls, founded in 1856 by the Canossian Giulia Fantasia; Monte Olimpico (Como), Provincial Institute for deaf and mute girls, of the Canossian Sisters, recognized as suitable in 1936; Naples, Institute for the deaf and mute, founded in 1778 by the priest Benedetto Cozzolino, and reorganized in 1890 by Prof. Ernesto Scuri; Archiepiscopal Pius House for deaf and mute boys and girls, arising in 1856 through the work of the priest Luigi Aiello, now directed by the Salesians; Noventa Padovana (Padua), Institute for the deaf and mute, plus the Elena Vendramini Calergi widow Valmarana foundation, entrusted to the Canossian Sisters; Oneglia (Imperia), Institute for the deaf and mute, founded in 1852 by the Barnabite Father G. B. Negri; Posia, Pius Institute for the deaf and mute, arising in 1850 through the care of Msgr. Angelo Ramazzotti; Rome, "Gualandi" Institute (a branch of the one in Bologna), arising in 1884; "Filippo Smaldoni" Institute, a branch of the one in Lecce, founded and directed by the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts; Saliceto (Modena), Educational Institute for the deaf and mute "Tommaso Pellegrini"; Sassari, Institute for the deaf and mute, created by the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro in 1925; Siena, "Pendola" Institute, founded in 1828 by the Barnabite Father Tommaso Pendola; Sondrio, Institute for the deaf and mute, founded by the priest Emilio Citterio; Spoleto (Perugia), Nazarene Institute for deaf and mute girls, founded in 1887 at Cannaiola by Msgr. Pietro Bonilli and transferred to Spoleto in 1898, entrusted to the Sisters of the Holy Family; Turin, Institute for the deaf and mute, founded in 1835 by the priest Francesco Bracco of Acqui; "Lorenzo Prinotti" Institute for the deaf and mute, arising in 1881 through the initiative of the priest L. Prinotti; Trento, Institute for the deaf and mute, founded in 1853 by Bishop Giovanni de Tschiderer; Trieste, Provincial School for the deaf and mute, established in 1882 by the teacher Federico Camus; Verona, "Provolo" Institute, founded in 1829 by the priest Antonio Provolo, who among the teaching subjects also introduced singing, with satisfactory results.

c) Private institutes, not recognized by the State — Chiavari (Genoa), "Ottavio Assarotti" Institute, founded in 1878 by the Barnabite G. B. Ottavio Assarotti; Piacenza, "Madonna della bomba" Institute for the deaf and mute, arising in 1903 through the initiative of Canon Francesco Torta; "Scalabrini" Institute for deaf and mute girls, founded in 1880 by Bishop Msgr. G. B. Scalabrini; Salerno, "Filippo Smaldone" Institute, opened in 1908 by the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, founded by the priest F. Smaldone.

As can be seen from this rapid list, of the 54 institutes mentioned, the greatest part was founded and is directed by the clergy or by nuns.

d) Method schools — For the preparation of teachers specialized in the instruction of the deaf and mute: Milan, "Girolamo Cardano" Method School, attached to the State Institute for the deaf and mute; Rome, "Tommaso Silvestri" Method School; Siena, "Tommaso Pendola" Method School.

2. Methods and congresses

The 19th century saw not only the rapid flourishing of institutes for those with impaired hearing and speech, but also the reasonable triumph of the oral method over that of signs, that is, of the so-called German school over the French one. And this was a consequence of the heated controversies that had arisen from the very beginning between S. Heinicke, champion of the ancient method of the spoken word, and the abbé de l'Epée, originator of the mimic or sign method, which spread almost everywhere outside Germany. The latter, in fact, while it was simpler and more rapid in teaching a greater number of signs representing things and actions (in grammar: nouns and verbs), nevertheless tended toward a kind of agrammatism, because it neglected the parts of speech that represent the logical connections of thought. Lacking careful teaching through discursive and conversational exercise, the deaf-mute tended toward the least effort, that is, toward the most accelerated expression of thought, for which nouns and verbs were sufficient. The other method, by contrast, accustomed the deaf-mute to perceive the spoken, written and lip-read word with such rapidity as to follow the whole discourse with the eye, as if he heard it. There arose, accordingly, a common effort for the revision of methods, fostered by David Hirsch, director of the Institute of Rotterdam, and later by Maurice Hill and in Italy by Prof. Pasquale Fornari of the Royal Institute of Milan and even more by the priest Giulio Tarra, all favorable to the return of the oral method. Among the many national and international congresses assembled to discuss the problems of the new direction, the one that holds historical importance is the International Congress held in Milan in 1880, presided over by Tarra, where it was precisely decided to return to the method of the spoken word, and the decision was favorably received by all nations. From then on the aim was only to give the method an ever simpler practice, but also one ever more up to date with scientific conquests. Not only that, but means were taken up to study how to resolve the old and new problems concerning the medical, pedagogical and social assistance of deaf-mutes and their civil and juridical condition in relation to the legislation of individual States, their entry into the common law of all citizens.

3. The new vibratory method

Having established the joy of deaf-mutes in perceiving vibrations within themselves and the greater ease they have in reading from the lips of teachers when they simultaneously capture vibrations through a conducting medium, Prof. T. Rutten of the University of Nijmegen introduced into his schools for deaf-mutes music and dance accompanied by the organ. With this he achieved that deaf-mutes came to relate various vibrations caught in themselves from different notes and from various tones and even from the slightest nuances to different colors and different positions of the limbs and body in order to weave the most harmonious dances (cf. U. Piazza, Musica per ricostruire la vita, in Ecclesia, 10 [1951], pp. 94-96).

4. Deaf-blind

The theory of the vicariousness of the stimuli of perception of the word has made possible the search for a method also for the education of deaf-blind persons. The initiative for these procedures is due to the founder of the Institute for the Blind of Boston, S. G. Howe (1891-76), who achieved full success in the assistance of the deaf-blind Laura Bridgman. Howe's technique and practice led to analogous results in Helen A. Keller, educated by Anne Sullivan, blind and herself educated in Boston; Keller succeeded in attending university courses and in learning foreign languages; as well as in Clarence Selby, poetess and writer, educated by Sister Dositea of the Congregation of St. Mary; in Lottie Sullivan, educated by Mrs. G. W. Veditz, etc. (cf. American annals of deaf, edited by E. A. Fay, Washington, June 1900). Fundamentally the method makes use of touch in its two images of sense-perception, that is, contact-pressure and form-movement. In these procedures touch becomes so refined that, as in the case of E. Keller, it can detect the word from the lip of the person pronouncing it, by lightly resting the three fingers of the right hand on his face.

Celestino Testore

II. THE ETHICAL PROBLEM

In the ethical field, what matters above all is the problem of the moral and juridical capacity of the deaf-mute. 1) Regarding imputability, the CIC has no specific norms; the principles governing human acts apply, taken up again by can. 2201, which speaks of incapacity for crime if there is a total lack of the use of reason, and of proportionate diminution in the case of partial lack. They are certainly not responsible in the way the healthy are; and even if fully educated, their psychic conditions may entail a diminution of imputability, to be determined by experts case by case. 2) The Italian Penal Code (arts. 96, 141, 219, 222) excludes all imputability in the deaf-mute, as incapable of understanding or willing; it admits diminished imputability in the case of a lesser degree of infirmity, prosecutable judicially, while however requiring commitment to a care institution. The Civil Code, on the other hand (art. 415), admits juridical capacity if the deaf-mute has had sufficient education; with particular precautions he may make a will (arts. 603-605) and testify in court (Code of Civil Procedure, art. 124). 3) As for the Sacraments, the general norms on the capacity to understand apply; in the case of total or near-total incapacity they are to be treated as infants (Baptism and Confirmation). If they are capable of at least venial sins, or if there is doubt, they may receive (under condition) Extreme Unction and absolution in danger of death; whereas for Communion and Confession, when they are healthy, a certain capacity to understand the value of the Sacrament is required. If psychic capacity is established, for example through the education they have received, they may approach the Sacraments like everyone else: excluded is Order, on account of irregularity ex defectu (can. 984, n. 2); for marriage the principles governing defect of consent and ignorance apply (can. 1081 ff.), so that if the deaf-mute is not capable of consent or is ignorant of what is indispensable for the validity of the act (can. 1082), the marriage is null. For Confession in particular, v. CONFESSIONE. Can. 936, derogating from can. 934, facilitates the gaining of indulgences even for the deaf-mute, inasmuch as it is sufficient that, for the recitation of prayers that may be prescribed, they unite themselves with others by internal dispositions, or by reciting them privately manifest the their sentiments by signs or run over them with the eye.
- See plate LXIV.

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