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APPENDIX B
DEAFNESS
Historical Background—The history of provision for deaf children in London, as elsewhere,
shows some unusual and interesting features in comparison with the traditional
pattern of development in the work of other handicaps. There are few instances where a
long period of slow progress has been followed by such revolutionary changes in every
aspect within a comparatively short time. For many years the full implications of the
disability were not understood by the community, with the result that public sympathy
and action were slow to be aroused. The suspicious attitude of the deaf themselves—engendered
by the nature of the condition—did not encourage investigation and experiment.
Major progress could not be made until the medical and technological advances of the past
25 years took place.
At first the voluntary organisations led the way by the establishment in 1792 of the first
British institution for the training of deaf children. This was the Asylum for the Deaf and
Dumb in the Old Kent Road. In 1872 the local education authority, which was the London
School Board, undertook responsibility and set up its first class for deaf pupils two years
later. Parliamentary legislation followed, in the form of the Elementary Education (Blind
and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, which laid down the duty of the school authority to make
provision for blind and deaf pupils and gave power to enforce attendance, which was
compulsory, for deaf children from seven to sixteen years. This tying of the age of entrance
to seven years meant that children who were already retarded in relation to others of the
same age were held back a further two years. Many authorities, including London, did in
fact admit children younger than seven to schools for the deaf. However, the age of compulsory
attendance was not lowered to five years until 1937.
When the London County Council took over the London School Board's function as
education authority in 1904 there were ten schools for the deaf or special classes in ordinary
schools, two boarding schools and one boarding school for deaf pupils who had an additional
handicap. Although its provision was often in advance of legislation, the Council's
approach to the care of the deaf child reflected the national attitude. Little medical information
about the causes of congenital deafness was available and the field of acquired deafness
was largely unexplored from both the preventive and curative angles. A child's hearing
was seldom questioned unless it did not develop speech at the normal time or came from a
family in which there was a known history of deafness. Sometimes the child was thought to
be mentally retarded, particularly the hard-of-hearing child who gave evidence of being
able to hear some sounds but who could not fully comprehend or reproduce normal
speech. The severely deaf child was regarded as a deaf mute and effort was directed towards
enabling him to make the best of his inescapable fate as a dumb adult.
The difficulty of communication tended to lead the deaf to form a narrow community
within the normal body of society. Assisted by voluntary organisations they had a variety
of social pursuits amongst themselves; certain types of selected employment were available;
intermarriage was common. The hearing world was regarded with suspicion and the protective
cover of the group was comforting.
Early hearing aids were cumbersome and of limited use, but there were no hearing aids,
even of this type, for children. The development of the thermionic valve and later of the
transistor led to the production of the modern compact powerful aid, which enables every
remnant of useful hearing to be employed and is of such small size and light weight that it
is suitable for a young baby.
The International Congress on Deafness held in London in 1925 stressed the importance
of adequate hearing in relation to education. This precept was behind the routine audiometric
testing of schoolchildren begun by the London County Council in 1930. (In this the
Council was in advance of the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry in 1938.)
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