Alexander Graham Bell, Teacher of People who are deaf

Round table discussion after Dr. Ira Hirsh, Monday November 5, 2001

Alexander Graham Bell was an amazing person who seemed able to transform his burning curiosity into remarkable devices; from his earliest challenge to make something useful to separate grain from its husk or his experiments with sheep larynx and hydrofoil boats, he was engaged in the pursuit of things which would improve the human condition. Never far from his thoughts however, was his deep conviction and tireless interest in teaching speech and the education of people who were deaf. This persistence as an advocate of the oral philosophy helped us all get to where we are right now. The fact that we are here at IMAL in Mexico City to celebrate 50 years of service is due in some part to the influence of Alexander Graham Bell.

In a paper he wrote in 1887, he quoted the famous poet Percy Shelly; “We look before and after’. Alexander Graham Bell felt that we are to look backward to discover causes of events and we look forward to anticipate the consequences of events; history on one hand and judgment on the other. When we look backward at the strong stance Alexander Graham Bell took on behalf of teaching spoken language, it is easy to see its consequences in the success of children who are deaf & hard of hearing talking and listening and going to school with their peers in their communities speaking for themselves. Alexander Graham Bell was influenced by his grandfather and his father Alexander Melville Bell both speech professionals in the United Kingdom. Alexander Graham Bell synthesized the elder Bells’ knowledge into his own desire to become a teacher. His creativity, however, continued to “get in the way’ of his endeavors as a teacher. As the Nobel prize Biochemist, Alber Szent Gyorgi said; “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.” Alexander Graham Bell’s early interest in speech physiology led him to his life time work with the deaf, but it also introduced him to scientists like Helmholtz and the belief that speech and electricity could be combined to some useful purpose. The resulting telephone although not useful for teaching speech or assisting communication for the deaf, did provide a substantial financial freedom for Alexander Graham Bell which then allowed him to advocate more time and energy to his work with the deaf.

In a paper written in 1888, Alexander Graham Bell introduced the concept of an electrical device to teach language to deaf children. In this paper he adroitly addressed the problems in using a visual system to teach language to young children. Little did he know that by the year 2000, thousands of deaf and hard of hearing youngsters would be able to use cochlear implants to hear spoken language and learn to talk.