Charles Michèle de l’Epée: Who was the ‘father of the deaf’ honoured in Google doodle?

Charles-Michel de l’Épée was born on November 24, 1712, to a wealthy family in Versailles, the centre of European power in the 18th Century. He studied to be a Catholic priest and a lawyer. But it was his passion for charitable work that led him on the road to changing history.

On a charitable mission in the slums of Paris, he had a chance encounter with two young deaf sisters who communicated using a sign language.

Inspired by the sisters, Épée decided to dedicate himself to the education of the deaf.

In line with emerging philosophical thought of the time, Épée came to learn that deaf people were capable of language as complex as the spoken word.

He began to develop a system of instruction of the French language and religion.

In the early 1760s, he founded a school.

The institution became a shelter, the world’s first free school for the deaf, open to the public.

Though Épée’s original interest was in religious education, his public advocacy and development of signed French enabled deaf people to legally defend themselves in court for the first time.

Épée died at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789.

Two years after his death, the National Assembly recognised him as a “Benefactor of Humanity” and declared that deaf people had rights according to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

His methods of education have spread around the world, and Épée is seen today as one of the founding fathers of deaf education.

What distinguished Épée from educators of the deaf before him, and ensured his place in history, is that he allowed his methods and classrooms to be available to the public and other educators.

As a result of his openness as much as his successes, his methods would become so influential that their mark is still apparent in deaf education today.

Épée also established teacher-training programs for foreigners who would take his methods back to their countries and who established deaf schools around the world.

A common myth about Épée is that he was the inventor of sign language.

This was not the case: in fact, the deaf taught him to sign.

What Épée did that was so revolutionary was to categorise and record French signs so they could be taught to others and used for education.

Today’s doodle shows six children signing the word ‘Google’ letter by letter, in honour of the ‘father of the death’ and his contrition to deaf education.