Jean Massieu (; 1772 – July 21, 1846) was a pioneering deaf educator. One of six

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

siblings, he was denied schooling until age thirteen when he met Abbé Sicard, who enrolled him in the Institute national des jeunes sourds de Bordeaux-Gradignan, the Bordeaux School for Deaf Children. There he learned to read and write French, and later helped develop the first formalized

French Sign Language French Sign Language (, LSF) is the sign language of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in France and in French-speaking parts of Switzerland. According to ''Ethnologue'', it has 100,000 native signers. French Sign Language is related and part ...

. This

was later adapted into

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

. He taught at the famous school for the deaf in Paris where Laurent Clerc was one of his students. He began work after a scandal in Paris in Rodez and dedicated his life to educating deaf children. Later he founded a deaf school in

Lille, France Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

Film

Jean Massieu is portrayed in the fictional film '' Sign Gene'', the superhero film about deaf mutants who have

superpowers Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to exert influence and project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, tec ...

through the use of

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

, as the fourth great-grandfather of Kate Massieu (played by Carola Insolera) the girlfriend of the leading character Tom Clerc, descendant of Laurent Clerc. The film is written and produced by Emilio Insolera and was screened in cinemas in September 2017.

Quotes attributed to him

* "Let the Englishman have his coffee, and let me have my ham."—Jean Massieu * "Gratitude is the memory of the heart", which has become a proverb in the French language.

References

External links

* Massieu, Jean; Laurent Clerc; and Roch Ambroise Cucurron Sicard. 1815
A collection of the most remarkable definitions and answers of Massieu and Clerc, deaf and dumb, to the various questions put to them, at the public lectures of the Abbé Sicard, in London.
London: Printed for Massieu and Clerc, by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields
"Jean Massieu," 1849 article written by Laurent Clerc

Massieu, Jean (Gallaudet University Library web page)

Date of the death of Jean Massieu, in ''Journal de Toulouse'', 28 July 1846
"Jean Massieu, ancien professeur à l'Institut royal des sourds-muets de Paris, fondateur et directeur honoraire de l'institution des sourds-muets de Lille, est mort dans cette ville le 21 juillet, à l'àge de soixante-quinze ans. M. Massieu avait été l'élève, l'ami et le successeur de l'illustre abbé Sicard." 1772 births 1846 deaths Deaf activists French activists with disabilities French deaf people Educators of the deaf French educators French Sign Language Deaf educators {{deaf-stub

Film

Quotes attributed to him

See also

References

External links