Pierre Desloges was a French author of books about sign language and politics. He was born in 1747 in the

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

region of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as a young man, where he became a

bookbinder Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

and

upholsterer Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially chair, seats, with padding, Spring (device), springs, webbing, and textile, fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' com ...

. He was deafened at age seven from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

, but did not learn to sign until he was 27, when he was taught by a deaf Italian. In 1779, he wrote what may be the first book published by a deaf person,

Teresa de Cartagena Teresa de Cartagena (fl. 1425 – 1478) was a writer, Mysticism, mystic and nun in late medieval Castile who is considered to be the first Spanish-language female writer and mystic. She became deaf between 1453 and 1459. Her experience of deafness ...

, in the mid-15th century, wrote two long essays or "tracts". in which he advocated for 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 ...

deaf education Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other ...

. It was in part a rebuttal of the views of Abbé Claude-François Deschamps de Champloiseau, who had published a book arguing against the use of signs. Desloges explained, "like a Frenchman who sees his language belittled by a German who knows only a few French words, I thought I was obliged to defend my language against the false charges of this author." He describes a community of deaf people using a sign language (now referred to as

Old French Sign Language Old French Sign Language (, often abbreviated as VLSF) was the language of the deaf community in 18th-century Paris at the time of the establishment of the first deaf schools. The earliest records of the language are in the work of the Abbé d ...

). The Abbe de l’Épée has often been credited with the invention of sign language, but this is incorrect. Desloges' book proves that

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 ...

predates the establishment of the famous school for the Deaf in Paris and is truly the invention of deaf people. Desloges also wrote a number of well-received political books around the time of the French Revolution. The time and place of his death are unknown, but he published a book as late as 1792. Some suggest that he died in 1799.

External links

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''Observations d'un sourd et muèt sur un cours élémentaire d'éducation des sourds et muèts publié en 1779 par M. l'Abbé Deshamps, Chapelain de l'Église d'Orléans'' at Project Gutenberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desloges, Pierre 1747 births 1790s deaths Year of death missing Deaf writers French writers with disabilities Bookbinders French furniture makers French deaf people

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External links