UTAH DEAF HISTORY
The 1912 Utah Association of the Deaf Convention at the Utah School for the Deaf. The UAD Bulletin, Summer 1963
"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present."
~Eleanor Roosevelt~
~Eleanor Roosevelt~
The "Utah Deaf History and Culture" website was launched in 2012 because history is such a valuable resource in our state. Decades of rich Deaf history and cultural heritage are preserved in the Utah Deaf history collection, which would have been lost if it hadn't been for our dedication to preserving history. The goal of this website is to preserve UAD Bulletin issues, Utah Eagle magazines, and other Utah Deaf historical materials. Future generations will be able to learn and benefit from this intriguing narrative as the demographics of the Utah Deaf community continues to change and evolve over time.
When we explore Utah Deaf history, we can see that our local community has a rich history that differs from the national Deaf community. The historical uniqueness of Utah, for example, includes the following:
When we explore Utah Deaf history, we can see that our local community has a rich history that differs from the national Deaf community. The historical uniqueness of Utah, for example, includes the following:
- The Deaf LDS Church is a large organized religious community with its own church building, which was established in 1917, in Ogden, Utah and a unique deaf-friendly designed church structure in Salt Lake City, Utah, which was built in 1977. Both church buildings were created with the deaf in mind, with the deaf themselves playing an important role in the design process.
- In 1909, the Utah Association of the Deaf (UAD) was established at the Utah School for the Deaf in Ogden, Utah. The first Deaf president of the Utah Association of the Deaf was a woman named Elizabeth DeLong – this is significant because women did not get the right to vote for a decade until the passing of the 19th amendment in 1920 (this amendment only applies to *white* women.) Deaf women members were not allowed to vote in the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) election until 1965, and women of color were not granted the ability to vote until later in the twentieth century. Elizabeth DeLong was also the first Deaf woman to lead a NAD state chapter association in the United States. On a side note, Utah women became the first women in modern American history to be allowed to vote in 1870. Seraph Young Ford, a schoolteacher, became the first woman to vote in the United States on February 14, 1870. Twenty-six years later, in 1896, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon, the first female state senator in the United States. In 1965, a year after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law, our local notable Deaf leader, Dr. Robert G. Sanderson, a 1936 USD graduate, former UAD president, and NAD president from 1964 to 1968, allowed Deaf women members to vote and Black Deaf individuals to join and vote. Since its inception in 1909, the UAD has campaigned for civil rights in a variety of areas, including auto insurance, traffic safety, telecommunications, interpreters, education, early intervention, employment, rehabilitation, and much more. Furthermore, the UAD was instrumental in the establishment of the Robert G. Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Jean Massieu School of the Deaf, the expansion of interpreting services, and the establishment of Deaf Education at Utah State University with an emphasis on ASL/English Bilingual (then Total Communication).
The 1909 Utah Association of the Deaf Convention
- The Utah School for the Deaf (USD) was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah. USD, unlike other state schools for the deaf, moved around several times in the Salt Lake area before settling in Ogden in 1896, after Utah became a state. In 1962, when Dr. Grant B. Bitter, a hard-core proponent of oralism & mainstreaming advocate, created the USD's Dual Track Program, commonly known as the "Y" system, which meant that all students in the Primary Department started in the oral program and couldn't transfer to the Simultaneous Communication Division unless they had "failed" the oral program by the age of 11 or 6th grade. The USD also embraced mainstreaming students in their program for the first time in 1959, and the movement grew steadily in the 1960s. For nearly ten years, the Utah Deaf community and parents who supported sign language battled the "Y" system, but no one listened. Finally, following student protests in 1962 and 1969, Ned C. Wheeler, a 1933 USD graduate, former UAD president, and chair of the USDB Governor's Advisory Council, proposed a Two-Track Program to replace the "Y" system, allowing parents to choose between oral and total communication methods of instruction for a Deaf child aged 2 to 21 years. The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) approved this policy in 1970 under the supervision of Dr. Jay J. Campbell, a Deputy Superintendent of the Utah State Office of Education and an ally of the Utah Deaf community. However, parents were not given a clear picture of their child's educational and communication choices. Inappropriate placement tactics were widely practiced, despite policies issued by the USBE requiring USD to give parents with a full variety of options. After receiving approval from the Utah Legislature and the Utah State Board of Education, USD accepted the merger with Jean Massieu School of the Deaf (JMS) in 2005 to give parents and students with an ASL/English bilingual option. Prior to the merger, USD declined to incorporate the ASL/English bilingual program in school; nonetheless, in 1998, the USBE authorized JMS as one of the state's first two charter schools. A year later, in 1999, JMS was formed. After more than fifty years, the "Hybrid" Program was finally developed in August 2016 under the direction of Michelle Tanner, USD Associate Superintendent, enabling "unbiased collaboration" between the Listening & Spoken Language (replaced oral) Program and the ASL/English Bilingual Program, better known as a personalized deaf education placement. Three deaf schools within the USD umbrella are named after Deaf prominent leaders: Jean Massieu School of the Deaf (Salt Lake City), Kenneth Burdett School of the Deaf (Ogden), and Elizabeth DeLong School of the Deaf (Springville).
Utah School for the Deaf, Ogden, Utah
- The Utah Deaf community and UAD officers worked through the legislative process for 40 years, from 1962 to 1992, to make our community center a permanent reality. Deaf people were a part of the architectural planning process since the beginning. The Utah Community Center for the Deaf opened a new facility in Taylorsville, Utah, in 1992, that was created exclusively for the state's Deaf community. Dr. Robert G. Sanderson, a notable figure in the Utah Deaf community, was honored with a huge renaming ceremony on October 4, 2003. The Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is the only state-funded Deaf agency in the country that provides accessibility and communication services. The Sanderson Community Center, like the church buildings, was built specifically to meet the needs of the deaf, with the deaf themselves playing an essential part in the process.
- In 1968, the Utah Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf became Utah's first interpreting service for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. In partnership with the Utah Association for the Deaf, they developed the first interpreter training program, as well as the first testing and certification procedures in Utah. Beth Ann Stewart Campbell, a Utah native, CODA, and former director of the Utah Community Center for the Deaf, was the first nationally RID certified interpreter in both Utah and the United States in 1965. Utah was the first state to pass SB 41, the interpreter certification statute, in 1994.
- Sorenson Communications, Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company, was the first VRS provider to produce a videophone for Deaf people in 2003.
- The Utah Association of the Deaf was the first to break with tradition by changing its name from "of" to "for" in 1963, and it is likely the last to return to "of" in 2012.
- The Utah Association of the Deaf lobbied state legislators to pass Utah Code House Bill (HB) 60, which altered the term "hearing impaired" in state law to "deaf and hard of hearing." Utah Governor Gary Hebert signed HB 60 into law on March 17, 2017, marking the culmination of the effort. Governor Herbert signed House Bill 60 into law on April 11th, 2017. Utah is the first state in the United States to achieve this goal.
Utah has a long list of firsts to its name. Furthermore, we have a number of well-known Deaf community leaders whose efforts must be preserved and remembered.
Since 2006, I've been gathering, compiling, and writing Utah Deaf History. I am the sole owner and operator of this website.
Since 2006, I've been gathering, compiling, and writing Utah Deaf History. I am the sole owner and operator of this website.
Utah School for the Deaf, Ogden, Utah
A BIG LOSS IN DEAF HISTORY
I'd like to show viewers Barry Strassler’s A Big Loss in Deaf History" because I don't want this to happen our Utah's rich Deaf history as the state's demography transforms in the future.
DeafDigest editor Barry Strassler shares the story of a Deaf man he knew who was a self-taught Deaf historian. He never went to college, but he has always been fascinated by Deaf history. He would conduct his study in Gallaudet University's library and the Library of Congress, and record his findings in notebooks. He kept several books on deaf history, as well as his journals, at home. He never told anyone about his discoveries, preferring to keep them to himself.
No one knew about this enormous treasure when he died. It vanished since he lived alone, with no close friends or family members. "A horrible waste in Deaf history," Barry remarked. DeafDigest Gold - November 18, 2012 - Barry Strassler, Editor
The rich history of the Utah Deaf community can now be accessed by anybody for historical preservation and genealogy/research reasons, thanks to digitization.
“Utah has always been a forerunner in promoting the history of the state's Deaf community," according to Virginia C. Borggaard (2012), author of "Celebrating A Rich Heritage 1901 - 2001" As a result, we're committed to continuing to promote and preserve Utah's Deaf history.
Thank you for stopping by; I hope you find the site entertaining, educational, and informative!
Cheers!
Jodi Becker Kinner
DeafDigest editor Barry Strassler shares the story of a Deaf man he knew who was a self-taught Deaf historian. He never went to college, but he has always been fascinated by Deaf history. He would conduct his study in Gallaudet University's library and the Library of Congress, and record his findings in notebooks. He kept several books on deaf history, as well as his journals, at home. He never told anyone about his discoveries, preferring to keep them to himself.
No one knew about this enormous treasure when he died. It vanished since he lived alone, with no close friends or family members. "A horrible waste in Deaf history," Barry remarked. DeafDigest Gold - November 18, 2012 - Barry Strassler, Editor
The rich history of the Utah Deaf community can now be accessed by anybody for historical preservation and genealogy/research reasons, thanks to digitization.
“Utah has always been a forerunner in promoting the history of the state's Deaf community," according to Virginia C. Borggaard (2012), author of "Celebrating A Rich Heritage 1901 - 2001" As a result, we're committed to continuing to promote and preserve Utah's Deaf history.
Thank you for stopping by; I hope you find the site entertaining, educational, and informative!
Cheers!
Jodi Becker Kinner
The 1931 Utah Association of the Deaf Convention
Copyright © Jodi Becker Kinner, 2012 - 2022. All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced or published without the express consent of the author. If you have additional information about Utah Deaf history, or photos/materials that you would like share, please contact Jodi Becker Kinner via email at jodibeckerkinner@gmail.com