- Pierre Desloges
Born in 1747 in the
Touraine region ofFrance , Pierre Desloges moved toParis as a young man, where he became a bookbinder and upholsterer. He was deafened at age seven fromsmallpox , but did not learn to sign until he was twenty-seven, when he was taught by a deaf Italian.In 1779, he wrote what may be the first book published by a deaf person, in which he advocated for the use of
sign language indeaf education . It was in part a rebuttal of the views of AbbéClaude-François Deschamps de Champloiseau , who had published a book arguing against the use of signs. Desloges explained, "like a Frenchman who sees his language belittled by a German who only knows a few French words, I thought I was obliged to defend my language against the false charges of this author." He describes a community of deaf people using a sign language (now referred to asOld French Sign Language ), many of whom would have no knowledge of spoken or written French.The
Abbe de l’Epee and his Paris school have often been credited with the invention of sign language, and deaf schools (especially residential ones) have been seen as the site of transference of sign languages from one generation to the next. Desloges' book proves thatFrench Sign Language predates deaf schools and is truly the invention of deaf people.Desloges also wrote a number of well-received political books around the time of the
French Revolution . The time and place of his death are unknown, but he published a book as late as 1792. Some suggest he died in 1799.Further reading
* Desloges, P. "Observations d'un sourd et muèt, sur un cours elémentaire d'educationdes sourds et muèts", Published in 1779 by M. l'Abbé Deschamps (Chapelain de l'Église d'Orléans), Amsterdam and B. Morin, Paris.
* Fischer, Renate. "The Study of Natural Sign Language in Eighteenth-Century France." Sign Language Studies - Volume 2, Number 4, Summer 2002, pp. 391-406
* Moody, William: "Pierre Desloges (1747-?)." In: Cleve, John V. van (ed): Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness. Vol. 1. A-G. New York, NY [u.a.] : McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. (1987) - pp. 301-302
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