International Day of the Deaf

Every year on the last Sunday of the first month of autumn, the world celebrates the Day of the Deaf, approved in 1951 in connection with the creation of the International Association of Deaf People. Now it is celebrated on September 27-29 annually.

According to statistics, every ninth person on Earth has difficulty hearing. The causes of this disease are completely different: the consequences of illness, accidents, congenital malformations. There are about 30 million deaf-mutes all over the world, with about 40% coming to Russia, 5% of whom are children under the age of majority. A large number of people, united by one common problem, realized the idea of determining the International Day of the Deaf.

The history of the international community of the deaf originates back in the 18th century in France.

Methodology for teaching Charles-Michel de l'Epe

At the origins of the Association of the Deaf is the association of graduates of the Paris Institute for the deaf and dumb in the early 18th century. Like most educational institutions, this school was created by a clergyman, namely the abbot Charles-Michel de l'Epe. He not only created the world's first specialized educational institution for the deaf, but also was the founder of gesture pedagogy, based on the works of European philosophers D. Diderot and J. Komensky.

Surmedagogy included the use of various verbal means: verbal (written and spoken) and non-verbal (sign language) methods. The latter was the main one. Thus, the mimic method of teaching was developed, which later became the method of communication of deaf-mutes.

His conclusions Charles de l'Epe expounded in the works "Training of deaf-mutes through the method of signs" and "The true way of training deaf-mutes, confirmed by experience."

Day of the Deaf in France

The King of France approved the activities of the priest and provided financial support to the school, which was widely known throughout Europe. But the help was not enough, and the abbot had to spend all his income on the maintenance of the educational institution, which eventually ruined him.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, graduates of the Institute deaf-mutes in Paris annually celebrated the birthday of Charles-Michel de L'Epe, celebrations in his honor have become traditional. This is also a kind of a day of the deaf in France.

Later in France, there were three more specialized institutions for deaf-mutes - in Bordeaux, Metz, Chambery, and in Paris there is to this day. Deaf people are not singled out in France as a separate category, they have no special relationship - they lead a normal normal way of life.

Sign languages

2,5 thousand languages exist on the Earth. But the language of looks and gestures is one of the most interesting forms of communication. The World Federation of the Deaf in the 50th year, a gesture system was developed - gestuno. Necessity in this language arose for the maintenance of events such as congresses, symposia, conferences, olympiads.

The first dictionary, published in 1965, contained three hundred gestures, and in the 1975 edition - 1500.

Gestuno was not an ideal language and had a number of shortcomings:

• There were no grammatical rules;
• Gestures were difficult to use in context;
• The basis was only 4 languages - British, Italian, American and Russian.

Subsequently, the need arose for a language capable of circumventing these problems. So there was an international gesture communication, which developed naturally, without artificial scientific intervention. This system allowed to communicate with deaf-mutes from different countries.

Attitude towards deaf-mute in Russia

Today, World Day of the Deaf is also celebrated in Russia, but few know that the first Russian school for deaf-mutes was opened in 1802 under Alexander I. At the same time the first higher educational institution for deaf-mutes by European standards was founded.

In the early 20th century, Moscow was the first to have a kindergarten for deaf children not only in Russia but also in Europe. At that time, educational institutions for preschool children were in a single quantity. Special education developed into a system and was developed only in the early 30's. The last century. So by the mid-90's. In the 20th century, there were about 84 schools for the deaf (in which there were up to 11,500 students), 76 schools for hearing, but weak (10,000 people were trained). At present, the number of special educational institutions, where qualified teachers are taught, has significantly increased. And the International Day of the Deaf in such educational centers is one of the main holidays.

For parents of children with hearing problems in large cities of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg), it is possible to arrange their child to study in special educational institutions and visit these institutions on a standard basis every day. A deaf person from birth through his tutelage and control the state took back in Soviet times. There was a well-developed system of training: the beginning in the kindergarten, the continuation in the boarding school, further vocational school and university.

Deaf children training system

This system is still preserved today. Gardens are able to take children from 1.5 years. In cities where there are no specials. Institutions for deaf children, special groups are opened in ordinary educational institutions. Children are taught not only to read texts adapted to their capabilities, write, communicate using dactyl alphabet, but also work with the correct perception of the child of the world, the development of his own "I". They play with them, they arrange all sorts of entertainment. In particular, the Day of the Deaf is celebrated every year. For children this is really a real holiday.

All-Russian Society of the Deaf (VOG)

The All-Russian Society of People with Hearing Impairment, formed in 1926, exists to this day. Deaf, united in one large community, there are already more than 90,000.

As part of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf 76 regional and nearly 900 local offices that serve the deaf people living on the territory of the Russian Federation.

This society includes more than 340 institutions of cultural significance (both regional and local level), the Moscow Theater of Mimicry and gesture, rehabilitation centers and organizations.

The main tasks of VOG

To protect the rights and improve the quality of life of a deaf person are the main tasks of VOG. The society actively interacts with state authorities and as a result - a new federal list of rehabilitation activities, as well as equipment and services that are provided free of charge to people with disabilities: hearing aids, special mobile phones, faxes, signaling devices, televisions, sign language translation services, etc. .

Another of the tasks of VOG is to inform society about the life of people with disabilities, their problems, ways of solving them. A socially-oriented approach to the celebration in our country of an event such as the International Day of the Deaf is also partly their merit.

Legislative approval of sign language in the Russian Federation

Not without active participation, FOG in Russia legislatively approved the sign language at the end of 2012, and also approved changes to Federal Law 181 "On the Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in the Russian Federation", which specifies the status of sign language in Russian transcription, which defines it as a language of communication in the presence of problems with Hearing and / or speech. According to this Federal Law, when receiving a hard-of-hearing education, the state is obliged to provide it with special textbooks, manuals and other educational literature, as well as services of the sign language interpreter.

Unfortunately, in reality, the law is not fully implemented. At the present time, only the attitude to the sign language has changed, but also translators and qualified teachers are not enough. It remains to be hoped that the situation will soon change. Of course, everyone understands that it will take more than a day. Deaf people will hear, sooner or later! It is not for nothing that the deaf and dumb throughout the history of civilization managed to transmit its own thoughts and emotions through other senses. Among them there are many outstanding and really talented personalities.