Following the Congress, there were cheers from the mainly Oralist supporters/advocates, and angry and dismissive reactions from most who supported and believed in the Combined System, across Britain, Europe and America.

"The victory for the cause of pure speech was in great measure gained, as many were heard to say afterwards, before the actual work of the Congress began," exclaimed one Oralist delegate.

However, another delegate, a believer in the Combined System but an advocate of Oralism, had a mixed reaction. "It was mainly a partisan gathering. The machinery to register it’s decrees on the lines desired by its promoters had evidently been prepared beforehand, and to me it seemed that the main feature was enthusiasm and fervidly eloquent advocacy of the 'pure oral' method, rather than calm deliberation on the advantages and disadvantages of different methods."

"1880 was the year that saw the birth of the infamous Milan resolution which paved the way for foisting upon the deaf everywhere a loathed method, hypocritical in its claims, unnatural in its application, mind-deadening and soul-killing in its ultimate results," cried out one Deaf American opponent.

Another was equally incensed, "...and that's that, if oral magicians, who yank educational rabbits out of silk hats and pearls of speech out of the mouths of those who have never heard, choke over it, why bless 'em!"

"The Oral Method benefits the few, the Combined System benefits all the deaf - anyone who upholds the oral method as an exclusive method is their enemy," stated another.

Nevertheless, the impact of the Milan Congress swept like a tidal wave across the schools for the Deaf in Britain, Europe and America. The schools that had previously used sign/combined system in deaf education quickly adopted the oral method. Sign Language in British Deaf schools was gradually forced underground as the reaction in favour of the Oralist movement strengthened.

The repercussions to Milan 1880 were immediate:

• Hundreds of Oral schools were set up while more and more signing Deaf schools were either forced to reform to the Oral method or were closed down.

• Deaf teachers and professors were sacked from their jobs and replaced by non-signing hearing teachers.

• Sign Language in schools reformed to the Oral method.

• Class sizes were reduced to a maximum of 10 per class, so that the pupils could lipread their teachers closer.

• Cost of education for the deaf shot up rapidly, due to paying for training and provision of hearing oralist teachers, post-school training of students, mandatory aural equipment and so on.

• In some Oral schools, deaf children who dared to sign were severely punished, and rewards were given to those who used speech.

• There has even been evidence in some Oral schools that visually impaired deaf children were "forced" to use their available sight to use lipreading rather than use tactile methods.

• Quality of Deaf education declined.

• Over 70% of Deaf children left school with a reading age of 7 and with few qualifications and social skills.

• Hearing parents were told not to use signs and must use speech/lipreading with their deaf children, with disastrous results.

• The suppression of the Sign/Combined System had serious psychological impact on some deaf children, and later when they became adults.

• Signing communities were reduced to almost a minimum.

• Paternalism and poor attitudes towards deaf people grew.

• The British Deaf and Dumb Association (BDDA) was set up in 1890 (now BDA as the “Dumb” was dropped in 1971) to fight this injustice and to protect the interests of Deaf people. Subsequently other organisations for the deaf were set up in the UK, Europe, America and the rest of the world, and took to fighting for similar issues.

• The president of Gallaudet College (now University) in Washington DC, USA, decided to retain sign language on the Gallaudet campus and to revoke the Milan 1880 Resolution. This monumental decision may have been largely responsible for sign language’s survival in the USA, and the university itself becoming the world’s most prestigious Deaf university.

And the list goes on.....

The decline in Deaf education has been long and steady, reaching a low point in the 1940s and the 50s with the advocating of “hear and speak”, deepening even further with one of Britain’s most notorious Oralist advocates of that period, Alexander Ewing, who taught new (hearing) teachers for the deaf at Manchester University. He taught them how to instruct deaf children through the Oral method, using the Natural Aural approach (headphones and microphones). Ewing’s work greatly influenced most Oral schools to do likewise, and this practice still continues to this day. Ewing’s inspiration was his Oralist and deafened wife, Irene Rosetta Goldsack.

At around that time, some Oral schools realised that their methods were not working. They startedto introduce elements of sign language to support speech, calling it “Total Communication”. This improved things a little but not sufficiently, as signs were only there to support speech and not used as a language in their own right.

Evidence began to emerge on the failings of oral education. Gallaudet College (now University) undertook a survey on some 17,000 Deaf pupils in the Stanford Academic Tests (SAT). This illustrated how oralism had reduced the educational achievements of the deaf since before the Milan 1880 Resolution. As a benchmark, the achievement of a hearing 17-year old pupil in the SAT is the 12th grade level. The achievement of the average deaf 17-year old pupil is 6th grade level in arithmetic (their best subject), and 4th grade in reading.

These findings were similar in Britain in 1976 when Dr Reuben Conrad of Oxford University carried out a national comprehensive research on the oral skills of Deaf children. He concluded with this summary: “when Deaf children leave school, half of them have a reading age of less than 7.6; half of them lipread worse than the average hearing child, untrained and inexperienced; 70% of them have speech which on the whole is too difficult to be understood, and only 10% have speech which their own teachers consider fairly easy.”

This situation was also similar in France, according to a doctoral dissertation by Christian Cuxac, one of a group of young deaf and hearing people who were agitating for reform. "It is virtually impossible in the present oralist context for a profoundly deaf adult, or even a severely but prelingually deaf student, to obtain a high school degree." This was further affirmed elsewhere in France at the turn of the 20th century, when it was found that after seven or eight years at the Paris Institution for the Deaf, pupils were incapable, not only of speaking, but also writing the teachers’ names or even their own. "No doubt some of them - not all - could, on graduating, earn a few coins in shoe repair or sewing, but this is rather expensive training after eight years at the Institution," stated one inspector-general for the French Ministry of the Interior. A teacher at the institution concurred, "Most of our students have such poor intelligence, and are so inept at using the few phrases that they want to use, that their impoverished reflection and imagination are expressed only in virtually unintelligible language."

Even two of the French key members in the organising of the Congress, Adolphe Franck, who was responsible for the sign language-killing Resolution 2, and Leon Vaïsse, both of whom later realised the failings of the Pure Oral Method, had publicly reverted back to their original views of the Combined System. All too little and too late! The Oralist movement tide had already long been cemented.

The beginning of a revival came in the early 1970s when William Stokoe proved that sign language (in this case American Sign Language) was a language in its own right, with its own grammar, vocabulary, structure and syntax. Further sign language dictionaries, including the 1992 1,084 page BSL Dictionary, gradually popped up in other countries.

Then came Harlan Lane’s books, including the influential “When the Mind Hears”, which condemned failures in education, pinning the blame on oralism. More and more books on sign language, Deaf Culture, history and Deaf people propped up around the world.

The mid-1970s saw the rise of the Deaf Rights movements, such as Britain’s National Union of the Deaf (NUD), and the growth of the number of Deaf activists in pressing for rights to sign language, education and Deaf identity.

One of the greatest examples was the mass ‘Deaf President Now!’ revolution at Gallaudet University in 1988, where the Deaf students, and their Deaf and hearing supporters, revolted against the university after the Governors had (again) elected a hearing President. They eventually succumbed, and elected King Jordan as their first ever Deaf President.

All this was strengthened by evidence from some countries finding success in the use of bilingualism in Deaf education.

The continuing resurgence of British Sign Language (BSL) had been given a major boost when, in 1986, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, became the patron of the BDA and subsequently learnt BSL. Most famously she demonstrated her signing skills at the BDA Centenary Congress at Brighton in 1990 to a media frenzy (and complaints by the Oralists to Buckingham Palace fell to deaf ears), as well as inspiring thousands of people to learn the language.

The winds of change are blowing, but the entrenched attitudes of Oralists and the Government policy makers are not exactly moved. It requires more than wind to shift them.

The 1990s up to now had seen a continuing resurgence of Deaf people going into employment of various sorts, such as key positions as Chairpersons, CEOs, senior managers, TV media, own businesses, head teachers, teaching staff and university lecturers, writers, journalists, actors and so on.

New Deaf-led organisations and Deaf activist groups were set up to challenge the oppressive issues, and were able to support Deaf people in all walks of life.

More and more Deaf and hearing people enrolled in Deaf-affiliated universities to study Deaf Studies, sign linguistics and Deaf culture, as well as other subjects such as psychology, business degrees, management skills, teaching and so on – all taught in sign language.

Several research and development projects specialising in deafness, sign language education and awareness, access to information and so on, were set up and mainly run by deaf people.

Sign language was officially recognised by their governments in America, Sweden, Finland, Britain (on 18th March 2003) and some other countries, with more to come. There have been mass marches to demand the recognition of sign language, with Britain peaking with 9,000 in London in 2000.

Technology played a big part in the Deaf movement with the Internet, email, SMS, videophones, minicoms and faxes, as well as the TV media with programmes for the Deaf to keep them all informed.

However, the battle isn’t over yet as there are still issues of concern. Those “who-know-it-all-best” still continue to preach against sign language. There is the cochlear implants on deaf children controversy, continuing employment issues, and the inadequate education of deaf children, as 94% of deaf children currently go to mainstream hearing schools.

Coming from a Deaf perspective, the following is what we want and what we’re doing now...

• We have not yet regained the position we had pre-Milan 1880. We still need bilingual policies, practices and more Deaf teachers.

• We have started a movement to achieve this. It is important that all of us, Deaf people, hearing allies and Deaf organisations, pull together to push through what is our fundamental right – to a full and well-rounded education through the language of our choice.

• We will continue to fight for Deaf people’s rights and we WILL NOT give up!

• We will continue to make – pardon the pun – deafening noises against those who advocate against Deaf people using sign language, as well as challenging those who with a vested interest in taking advantage of Deaf people for their own financial benefit.

• Go to Milano's Hated Links to find out how YOU can join these organisations and groups to join in the fight!

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