Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet had been planning to become a minister and met a deaf little girl. He was sorry to hear that she could not attend to any specialized teaching institute because there weren't any in the U.S. Determined to make life easier for deaf people in America, Gallaudet went to England where he hoped to learn more about creating a teaching institute for deaf children. The English did not do much to help him, but he was made an offer by a French teacher of deaf children to come and spend three months attending classes in the Royal Institution for the Deaf. At the time when Gallaudet arrived at the Royal Institution for the Deaf, Laurent had been teaching sign classes. Gallaudet became Clerc's student and during the period the two made progress together.

Consequent to attending Clerc's classes, Gallaudet became amazed at his teacher's abilities and invited him to join him in going to America. Clerc happily accepted the invitation believing that it would be for a short while. Gallaudet continued to study sign language, while Clerc started to learn English.

"Back in America, funds were obtained and the Connecticut Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb (now named the American School for the Deaf) was established in 1817, with Gallaudet as its director, Laurent Clerc as the first deaf teacher of deaf students in America, and Alice Cogswell as one of the first seven pupils." (Lang, Harry G.)

One of the most interesting things about Clerc had been that he considered that deafness shouldn't be an impediment for one that wants to follow his dreams. He claimed that deaf people should not be ignored for their handicap and a talented deaf person should be appreciated for her or his true values.

Both Gallaudet and Clerc had made great efforts to present the Americans with a new concept and with the benefits that deaf people would have when attending...

After the institution had been opened, Clerc devoted his entire life to teaching deaf students. He taught at the Hartford institute from 1817 and until 1958 when he retired because of his age. During the years he worked, he had the mission of teaching deaf students as well as normal people that wanted to study sign language.
He married Eliza Boardman, one of his deaf-mute students and they had six perfectly healthy children together.

Clerc fought for deaf people everywhere to live a normal life and to have rights just as normal people had. Clerc knew that deaf people had been generally inclined to use sign language in order to express what they meant. As a result, he stated that deaf people communities hadn't been different from language-minority groups. After several decades, sign language has been categorized to be equal to English, French, and other languages.

Clerc is recognized as being one of the most prominent persons to have supported deaf people. The American society mostly preferred to ignore deaf persons, and their families had to adapt to the situation the best they could. Clerc came up with a theory he knew from France that deaf people needed to be brought together and taught in order for them to be able to integrate in society just as normal people do and he proved to be right.

Works cited:

1. Cathryn Carroll, Harlan L. Lane, "Laurent Clerc: the story of his early years," Gallaudet University Press, 1991.

2. Goodstein, a. & Walworth, M. (1979). Interesting Deaf Americans. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University.

3. Harry G. Lang, "Silence of the Spheres: The Deaf Experience in the History of Science," Bergin & Garvey, 1994

Cathryn Carroll, Harlan L. Lane, "Laurent Clerc: the story of his early years," Gallaudet University Press, 1991.