Reviews for Spanish National Deaf School: Portraits from the 19th Century

The average rating for Spanish National Deaf School: Portraits from the 19th Century based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-04-23 00:00:00 Brian Dorgan As posted in []: Wow! All I can say is that I enjoyed reading Plann's *Spanish National Deaf School* because it contained historical tidbits of the Deaf Spaniards during the 19th century. Students, researchers, instructors and other professionals of Deaf studies, history and culture need to feast their eyes on this book. This will make a wonderful collection to their library. When Deaf history is covered, Deaf people and their allies in America, France and sometimes, England are discussed. However, there is little or no mentions of Deaf Spanairds and their allies. It could be perhaps that little is known of the Deaf Spaniards or scholars feel that their contributions are not worthy of discussion Plann researched on the Spanish National Deaf School during the years of 1805 to 1899. Just as similar to the American School for the Deaf and their first Deaf teacher, Laurent Clerc, the Spanish School also had their first Deaf teacher, Roberto Francisco Pr�dez y Gautier, even though he taught art. While the Spanish Deaf School was a huge milestone in Spain's history, the school was ran by administrators who thought little of the Deaf students. In addition, the school was in dismal conditions. Nonetheless, the Deaf students survive the institution throughout the years. The school had additional problems of its own, such as sexism and abuse, requiring governmental investigations. At the same time, the teachers and students were well aware of notables in Deaf education in other countries. They frequently read, and sometimes plagiarize, works from Abbe Charles-Michel de l'Epee, Abbe Ambrose Sicard, John Braidwood, Samuel Heinicke, Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, Laurent Clerc, Helen Keller and many more. However, there is no mention if these people were also aware of Gallaudet University (then called National College for the Deaf and Dumb) which was established in 1864. The Spanish National Deaf School is just like any other Deaf schools in the world. It had its own share of dark secrets and successes, including their own famous Deaf-Blind student, Martin de Martin y Ruiz. Plann did a superb job by sharing her historical research of the Deaf Spaniards and their allies during the 19th century. Simply invaluable!

Review # 2 was written on 2017-06-24 00:00:00 Mr. Uwe Matschke This is an interesting read by three deaf women from different generations and offers three correspondingly different accounts: a hard-of-hearing American woman describes her early life and development through adulthood, from early education in a specialized boarding school where she meets lifelong friends, through later education at school with hearing children, to courtship and marriage to a hearing man; a profoundly deaf British-American Jewish woman thinks back to her early childhood during the Battle of Britain, including the experience of lacking the language to ask and understand answers to questions about what was going on; and a deaf Gallaudet College professor recalls a year-long, and harrowing, round-the-world lecture tour on behalf of Total Communication. All three accounts provide fresh insight into communication issues and various kinds of bigotry.