What happened on the island of Martha’s Vineyard that prompted
Alexander Graham Bell to visit and conduct research?

Alexander Graham Bell believed deafness was a scourge that needed a solution. He believed that deaf people suffered by being deaf - feeling isolated and alone and cut off from “normal” society. He wanted to end that suffering. He was not alone in that thinking. It was the commonly accepted view of his time. Other people of prominence, like Horace Mann, agreed with Bell that deaf people, if they received any education at all, should be taught by the Oral method - using speech and lip-reading - and signing should not be used for teaching. As the first Secretary of Education for the state of Massachusetts, he had considerable influence.

In the mid to late 1800s, the new field of genetics was in its infancy. It was thought by many that all human deficiencies had a genetic cause and if we could eliminate or cure the genetic cause, we could eliminate the condition. Thus, no more cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, Down syndrome, etc. This simplistic view of the time seemed hopeful and positive. A cure for these conditions was on the horizon.

Bell wanted to prove conclusively that defective genes were the cause of deafness and he thought he had found a place that would produce this proof. On Martha’s Vineyard, it was reported that there was a high incidence of deafness, especially in the town of Chilmark. If he could show this evidence, it would give weight to his idea of preventing deaf from marrying other deaf so they would not produce “a deaf variety of the human species.” This was his fear.

Ironically, he went to a place that did have a genetic cause for deafness. Yet, his research there would be the undoing of his theory. After months of effort, he could not reach a provable conclusion and gave up. Rather than admit he was mistaken about his theory, he concluded that Martha’s Vineyard was an anomaly and so could be dismissed.

What can we learn from what took place on Martha’s Vineyard? A great deal - about deafness, about the importance of language, about our need to feel included. What happens when someone is deaf and yet is included, fully, in every aspect of daily life in a community. What possibilities then present themselves?

This workshop will acquaint you with what really happened on the island of Martha’s Vineyard for well over 200 years. The lessons are for all of us - to see the possibilities instead of perceived disabilities. I do mean perceived, as you will learn in this fascinating, factual account.