Funding Deaf Education in America

In May 1816, the Connecticut state government passed an act that officially incorporated the American School for the Deaf. Later that year in October, the Connecticut legislature voted to give $5,000 in aid to the school, thus making it the first publicly funded school dedicated to students with disabilities.

General Marquis de Lafayette visited this site on September 4, 1824. Upon exiting the building he was greeted by 800 Hartford school children who presented him with a gold medal. Amongst the crowd were students from the American School for the Deaf wearing badges that exclaimed, “We FEEL what our Country EXPRESSES.” Later, Lafayette visited the school at the Old Hartford campus on Asylum Street where he was delighted to meet fellow Frenchman Laurent Clerc.

Credits and Sources:

Photo courtesy of:

Keenan.