American School for the Deaf
| American School for the Deaf | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | |
| West Hartford, Connecticut | |
| Coordinates | 41°46′16″N 72°44′50″W / 41.7710°N 72.7473°WCoordinates: 41°46′16″N 72°44′50″W / 41.7710°N 72.7473°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | April 15, 1817 |
| Staff | 328 |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Number of students | 174 |
| Color(s) | Black and orange |
| Athletics | Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Cheerleading, Track & Field, and Softball |
| Mascot | Tigers |
| Website | Official ASD Website |
The American School for the Deaf (ASD) is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States. It was founded April 15, 1817, in Hartford, Connecticut, by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Dr. Mason Cogswell, and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school later that year.
The first deaf school in the United States was short-lived: established in 1815 by Col. William Bolling of Goochland, Virginia, in nearby Cobbs, with John Braidwood (tutor of Bolling's two deaf children) as teacher, it closed in the fall of 1816.
During the winter of 1818–1819, the American School for the Deaf became the first school of primary and secondary education to receive aid from the federal government when it was granted $300,000. As a result of its pivotal role in American deaf history, it also hosts a museum containing numerous rare and old items. While it is situated on a 54-acre (220,000 m2) campus, the ASD has a small enrollment — in its history, the ASD has graduated approximately 6000 graduates.
The impetus behind its founding was the fact that Alice Cogswell, the daughter of a wealthy local surgeon (Mason Fitch Cogswell), was deafened in childhood by fever at a time when the British schools were an unacceptable substitute for a local school. Dr. Cogswell prevailed upon the young Gallaudet (who had recently graduated from Yale University's School of Divinity and had begun studying at Andover). Gallaudet met young Alice in Hartford, where he was recovering from a chronic illness.
Cogswell and nine other citizens decided that the known 84 deaf children in New England needed appropriate facilities. However, competent teachers could not be found, so they sent Gallaudet in 1815 on a tour of Europe, where deaf education was a much more developed art. After being rebuffed by the Braidwoods, Gallaudet turned to the Parisian French schoolteachers of the famous school for the Deaf in Paris, where he successfully recruited Laurent Clerc.
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Wikipedia