At a time when education for disabled students was uncommon, Gallaudet University was the first collegiate level educational institution for deaf and visually impaired students.

In 1856, Amos Kendall, former United States Postmaster, donated two acres of land and hired Dr. Edward Gallaudet, son of Reverend Thomas Hopkins, the founder of the first school for the deaf in the country, to build an institution of higher education for deaf and blind students.

The school began educating students as an upper level institution, but was not considered a college until Congress approved the school charter and named it Columbia Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind in 1857.

In 1864, Columbia began to offer college degrees, a first for deaf and blind students. Two years later, the first student graduated with a Master of Science degree. In the late 19th century, the school's name changed to Gallaudet College.

Beginning in the early 1900s, Gallaudet offered education in manufacturing fields that allowed deaf and blind students to compete in the work force.

Post-WWII, the school offered six areas of concentration: education, home economics, printing, language and literature, science and math, social studies and library science. Gallaudet provided deaf and blind students a place to gain first hand experience and become future teachers.

In 1986, Congress granted the college University status. The school developed the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, offering grades one through twelve in two schools.

Today, the school offers 40 majors. In the over one hundred and fifty years that Gallaudet University has been educating deaf and blind students, the University has been able to withstand prejudices and continue to fight for equal rights and equal treatment, enabling and empowering its students.

Podcast Written and Narrated by Kelcie Lloyd, Public History Student at the University of West Florida.