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The Blind And The Deaf, 1900

Creator: Alexander Graham Bell (author)
Date: 1906
Publisher: Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Source: Available at selected libraries

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183  

This same plan has been adopted in the present census, but it has been deemed advisable to extend the age limits assigned to "childhood" from 15 years (1880) to 19 years (1900), for the reason that special schools for the deaf and dumb are open to all deaf children of school age. All persons, therefore, who lost hearing before the age of 20 are admissible as pupils, and this quite irrespectively of their ability to speak. It has also been deemed advisable in the present report to designate this class as ' ' the deaf from childhood (under 20)," rather than the "deaf and dumb;" for it is manifestly incorrect to label as "deaf and dumb" a class of persons containing many members who can speak. For this reason the "deaf and dumb" of 1880 would more properly be termed "the deaf from childhood (under 16)."

184  

The inclusion of speaking persons in the returns of the deaf and dumb for 1880 is probably the main cause of the increased ratio per million noted for that census (Diagram 1).

185  

There are other causes, however. Previously to 1880 the accuracy of the census returns depended upon the enumerators alone, for there was no possibility of going behind their returns and correcting errors; but in 1880 the Census Bureau entered into correspondence with physicians residing in all parts of the country, through whose agency the enumerators' returns were checked and verified. Many names of deaf-mutes who had been overlooked by the enumerators were supplied to the Census Bureau by the physicians.

186  

This correspondence revealed the fact, which has been amply substantiated by the experience of the present census, that the returns of the ordinary enumerators regarding the deaf, or deaf and dumb, are erroneous in a large proportion of cases, and need correction and verification before being made the basis of statistical inquiries.

187  

In 1890 a new departure Vas made. Previously to that year the census returns related to a portion only of the deaf and not the whole, viz, the deaf and dumb (1830 to 1870), or those who were supposed to belong naturally to that class, even though they could speak (1880); but in 1890, instead of relying upon the enumerators to make the distinction desired, the attempt was made to take a census of the whole number of the deaf, and to have the dividing line drawn by experts in the Census Office during the examination of the returns.

188  

In 1890 the enumerators were instructed to make returns of all persons who were so deaf as to be unable to understand loudly shouted conversation, with the object of limiting the inquiry substantially to persons who were totally deaf.

189  

The dividing line was drawn in accordance with the practice of the earlier censuses and not with that of 1880. The deaf were divided into two broad classes, viz, the "deaf and dumb" and the "deaf but not dumb." Deaf-mutes who had been taught to speak in oral schools were included among the "deaf but not dumb," but comparison was made with former censuses on the basis of the "deaf and dumb" alone.

190  

Under such circumstances we would naturally expect to find a falling off in the ratio per million of population returned as deaf and dumb proportional to the activity displayed by the special schools in imparting speech to their pupils; and by reference to Diagram 1 it will be observed that there was a decrease in 1890 as compared with 1880.

191  

This falling off, however, is more apparent than real, because the returns of the deaf and dumb for 1890 included only persons who were reported as unable to speak; whereas those for 1880 included all persons who lost hearing before reaching the age of 16 years, many of whom possessed some power of speech. The true comparison, therefore, should be made with the earlier censuses, in which the returns were limited to those who were de facto deaf and dumb.

192  

In taking the Twelfth Census (1900) the plan of 1890 was adopted of taking a census of all of the deaf who were unable to understand loudly shouted conversation; but in accordance with a special statute of Congress the enumerators were required to report only the name, age, sex, and post office address of deaf, or deaf and dumb, persons discovered, leaving all other details to be ascertained by correspondence with the deaf persons themselves.

193  

After all corrections had been made in the data secured for the present report, it was found that of those who had been correctly reported as deaf, the majority were able to understand loudly shouted conversation, in spite of the specific instructions to the enumerators that such persons were not to be returned. Out of 89,287 deaf, 37,426 were totally deaf and 51,861 could hear loudly shouted conversation. These latter cases were too numerous to be ignored in the tabulation of the results, and the returns have therefore been analyzed under the head of "partially deaf," although of course the cases reported constitute only a small fraction of the partially deaf of the country.

194  

It must be difficult for enumerators, who are usually strangers to the persons they return, to decide definitely whether a person is or is not totally deaf; and we must credit the enumerators of the present census with the intention of fulfilling their instructions to the best of their ability. It is therefore probable that the majority of the partially deaf persons returned were laboring under serious defects of hearing, and were not simply "hard of hearing." They are believed, as a class, tQ be persons so deaf that it required correspondence with the persons themselves to ascertain the fact that they were not totally deaf.

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