Laurent ClercBy: Ryan AbsteinHr. 4Laurent Clerc was born in Paris, France, in 1785. It all started when he fell off a chair and lost his sense of hearing, at the age of one. This happened by hitting his head very hard against the ground, leaving him with a scar on his face. Despite the scar on his head, he always believed he was born deaf. He also had no sense of smell due to the fall. At the age of twelve, his uncle decided to take him to the School for the Deaf in Paris. As a student, Clerc integrated very well and had excellent grades. At this school, it was the first time he was introduced to sign language, and also the first time he met another deaf person, his name Jean Massiue. Laurent Clerc did not know how to speak at all before he arrived at school, but there he was taught to speak. When Laurent pronounced certain words, he mixed up certain letters. After this happened, his speech technician would hit him. Eventually, Clerc decided to quit speech classes, never speak again, and learn to sign. On the day he died, he promised never to use his voice again. After everything that had happened at school, Clerc stayed at the school and taught other students first as a tutor, then wanted to become a teacher, and so he did. When Clerc came to America, it would make him one of the most famous deaf people in our history. When Clerc arrived in the great city of New York in 1817, he brought Thomas Gallaudet. Both Clerc and Thomas founded America's first-ever school for the deaf, located in Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Clerc was the very first deaf teacher in America. Clerc taught thirty-one students in the school's opening year, with Alice Cogswell middle of paper...... Federation of the Conference of the Deaf. He has completed residencies at numerous schools for the deaf, teaching and creating lasting works of art. These include a 150-foot-long collage/mural he created for the Deaf Children's Learning Center in 1995, and a 30 x 10 mural at Gallaudet titled "The Five Panels: Deaf Experiences" . The mural is still on display and has been praised for its importance to the deaf experience. In May 1989, before the international deaf culture festival at Gallaudet University, Deaf Way II, Baird was one of eight deaf artists who produced a manifesto for De'VIA (Deaf View Image Art). This was a concept of deaf art that differentiated itself from art by or for deaf people. Rather, it was an art that contained a message about deaf life. It uses formal artistic elements with the aim of expressing an innate cultural or physical experience of being deaf..