Name Ferdinand Berthier | ||
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Books Forging Deaf Education in Nineteenth-century France: Biographical Sketches of Bebian, Sicard, Massieu, and Clerc Born September 30, 1803 (age 82), Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, France Died July 12, 1886 (aged 82) Paris, France Education Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris Occupations Educator, Intellectual, Political organiser Known for Deaf rights movement Honours Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur Similar Laurent Clerc, Elias Hofgaard, Jeanette Berglind Nationality French | ||
Ferdinand berthier biography
Ferdinand Berthier (September 30, 1803 in Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, France - July 12, 1886 in Paris) was a deaf educator, intellectual and political organiser in nineteenth-century France, and is one of the earliest champions of deaf identity and culture.
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Berthier first attended the famous school for the Deaf in Paris as a young student in 1811, when the school was under the directorship of Abbé Roch-Ambroise Sicard. He came from the rural south-east of France to learn basic vocational skills and literacy to prepare him for work as a tradesman. His inspirations included his teacher, Roch-Ambroise Auguste Bébian, a hearing individual who mastered French Sign Language and authored the first comprehensive analysis and advocacy of the language. Berthier was also profoundly impacted by two prominent deaf students from his school, Jean Massieu and Laurent Clerc, who went on to become educators themselves.
In late 1837 Berthier petitioned the French government for permission to create the Société Centrale des Sourds-muets, which was officially founded the following year as the first organisation to represent the interests of the deaf community. The organisation aimed to bring together "all the deaf spread across the globe... to put speaking and deaf men of intelligence and heart in rapport with each other, no matter the distance, no matter the difference in language, culture and laws," and offered deaf workers a practical avenue to support each other through "mutual aid" and a way to organize and attend adult education classes. Berthier played a delicate balancing act as a passionate defender of the deaf identity and sign language, while under a repressive social and political climate.
Berthier wrote books about deaf history and deaf culture, noting deaf artists and sign-language poets of his time.
