Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf

The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf was (despite the name) the first international conference of deaf educators held in Milan, Italy in 1880. It is commonly known as "The Milan Conference". After deliberations from September 6 to 11, 1880, the conference declared that oral education was superior to manual education and passed a resolution banning the use of sign language in school. After its passage in 1880, schools in European countries and the United States switched to using speech therapy without sign language as a method of education for the deaf.

Alexander Graham Bell and Edward Miner Gallaudet, both prominent U.S. figures in deaf education, had been debating the effectiveness of oral-only education versus an education that utilizes sign language as a means of visual communication, culminating in the Milan Conference in 1880 that passed eight resolutions on deaf education.

The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf (which, despite its name, was actually the first) was an international meeting of deaf educators from at least seven countries. There were five delegates from America and approximately 164 delegates total in attendance. The Congress was planned and organized by a committee created by the Pereire Society, a group that was against sign language. More than half of the people invited were known oralists; therefore, the Congress was biased and most, if not all, of the resolutions that were voted on by the delegates gave results in favor of the oral method. Many of the resolutions were worded in ways that supported the oral method, such as "Considering the incontestable superiority of speech over signs in restoring the deaf-mute to society, and in giving him a more perfect knowledge of language,/Declares –/That the Oral method ought to be preferred that of signs for the education and instruction of the deaf and dumb".

The Milan Conference was organized by the Pereire Society, an organization formed by the family of Jacob Rodrigues Pereira of France and financed by their numerous railroad and bank holdings (including Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier). The Pereire Society was a strong supporter of oralism. They organized the Milan conference with the intent to ban sign language. They secured this outcome by carefully selecting who was invited, inviting the delegates to see the oralist success in a local school, and by encouraging negative reactions to those giving speeches supporting sign language and cheering those supporting oralism.

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