Everyone knows about Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone. Many people do not know that he was also a deaf educator and advocate, with anassociationnamed after him.His methods (and reasons behind those methods) continue to cause controversy in theDeaf community.
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Bell’s father, Alexander Melville Bell, was a teacher of the deaf. His method of teaching the deaf was called “Visible Speech.“Bell’s grandfather was a famous elocution teacher and is considered the model for George Bernard Shaw’s character Professor Henry Higgins inPygmalion.
Bell’s Legacy
Bell applied his study of eugenics to his goal of preventing the creation of a deaf race and presented his paperMemoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Raceto the National Academy of Sciences in 1883.
Bell stated, “Those who believe as I do, that the production of a defective race of human beings would be a great calamity to the world, will examine carefully the causes that will lead to the intermarriage of the deaf with the object of applying a remedy.”
Suggestions were made to enact legislation to prevent the intermarriage of deaf-mutepeople or forbidding marriage between families that have more than one deaf-mute member. His preventative strategies for deaf marriage included removing barriers to communication and interaction with the hearing world.
In some respects, Alexander Graham Bell changed the way we look at education for the deaf for the better. Oral methods, the desegregation of education, and facilitating communication between deaf and hearing persons are a positive outcome.
Some historians point to this as his legacy just as much as his inventions. However, his reasons behind those suggestions have an origin in a darker agenda and his view of the deaf ushered in an era of seeing the hard of hearing asless capableand stigmatized a valid method of communication and education.
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicaiton Disorders.Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell).Platt JH.The bell reduced visible symbol method for teaching speech to the deaf.J Speech Disord. 1947;12(4):381-386. doi: 10.1044/jshd.1204.381The Alexander & Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation Inc.Alexander Graham Bell biography.Braun DC, Jain S, Epstein E, Greenwald BH, Herold B, Gray M.Deaf intermarriage has limited effect on the prevalence of recessive deafness and no effect on underlying allelic frequency.PLoS One. 2020;15(11):e0241609. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241609Bell AG.Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1884.
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicaiton Disorders.Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell).Platt JH.The bell reduced visible symbol method for teaching speech to the deaf.J Speech Disord. 1947;12(4):381-386. doi: 10.1044/jshd.1204.381The Alexander & Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation Inc.Alexander Graham Bell biography.Braun DC, Jain S, Epstein E, Greenwald BH, Herold B, Gray M.Deaf intermarriage has limited effect on the prevalence of recessive deafness and no effect on underlying allelic frequency.PLoS One. 2020;15(11):e0241609. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241609Bell AG.Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1884.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicaiton Disorders.Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell).Platt JH.The bell reduced visible symbol method for teaching speech to the deaf.J Speech Disord. 1947;12(4):381-386. doi: 10.1044/jshd.1204.381The Alexander & Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation Inc.Alexander Graham Bell biography.Braun DC, Jain S, Epstein E, Greenwald BH, Herold B, Gray M.Deaf intermarriage has limited effect on the prevalence of recessive deafness and no effect on underlying allelic frequency.PLoS One. 2020;15(11):e0241609. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241609Bell AG.Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1884.
National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicaiton Disorders.Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell).
Platt JH.The bell reduced visible symbol method for teaching speech to the deaf.J Speech Disord. 1947;12(4):381-386. doi: 10.1044/jshd.1204.381
The Alexander & Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation Inc.Alexander Graham Bell biography.
Braun DC, Jain S, Epstein E, Greenwald BH, Herold B, Gray M.Deaf intermarriage has limited effect on the prevalence of recessive deafness and no effect on underlying allelic frequency.PLoS One. 2020;15(11):e0241609. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241609
Bell AG.Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1884.
Meet Our Medical Expert Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
What is your feedback?
