"Oralism or Manualism” The Voice of the Deaf

“Oralism or Manualism”
The Voice of the Deaf

What a glorious day, you’re having a child. The day you couldn’t wait to arrive. But then the doctor comes in and says there were some complications at birth, your baby’s fine but will be deaf for the rest of their life. Something you feared but never expected to deal with. A million things are running through your head, why me? What do I do? is my child going to be a vegetable for the rest of their life? No. In fact there are options parents can take to raise their deaf child in a hearing environment but what is the best way for your child. The child can either learn the studies of Oralism or Sign Language.
Early teachers who used sign language were known as manualists. Those who, later in the century, opposed the use of sign language and wanted to limit deaf people to speech and lip-reading called themselves oralists. The terms are somewhat misleading because manualists, at least later in the century, did not oppose or...