I don't believe this topic has ever been addressed before in a full on thread, and I'm genuinely curious. What is the established site canon for deaf characters - and, more specifically, their education.

Personally, my main info comes from this website when it comes to British Deaf History. Not sure if anyone has more info on the subject that might be helpful.

I also know that the wizarding world will handle some specific details differently. Are deaf witches and wizards educated at Hogwarts? Do they have their own schools? Both? If they do have a different school, could a description for one or two schools be placed in the Education doc? How does this reflect in careers? What's the social attitude and rep behind this? Are there spells/can we create spells that accommodate deaf characters (private closed caption spells that allow deaf people to follow along in conversation with hearing people, etc.)?

I'm not sure if we really discuss disability and neurodiversity on site much - and it is viewed differently in modern day than in VE, so it can become a sensitive topic with VE likely being even less accepting than now - and I want to approach this topic as respectfully as possible.

  

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Magic by Rune

I feel like it’s come up before and we said it was very unlikely they would be successful long-term as British magic is so verbal and they didn’t have the inclusive education practices we have now to make up any gaps. I am presently considering a deaf character as well and have been thinking about what that would look like, but it definitely would depend on the characters background.

I think Cassius Lestrange might have a bit of insight as she had a character who used sign language (though wasn’t herself deaf)?

  

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Of course it doesn't speak to magical Britain but this weekend I'll dig up my sources from the deaf culture and history class I took. We focused a lot on this time period and I can put together something about the muggle treatments this weekend!

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   Cassius Lestrange, Faustus Prewett

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The leading deaf university in the United States, Gallaudet University was established in April 1864, if that helps anything.

Additionally, I'm fairly certain that ASL is not used outside of the US. Most countries have their own sign language, the UK uses BSL which began in the 18th Century. ASL is actually based a lot on LSF (French Sign Language) because of Thomas Gallaudet who established the school above.

Here is som3 history BSL that I just stumbled on, it also adds some culture and education information: https://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/multilingua...tory.shtml

Additionally here is some history on 19th Century deaf culture in the US: https://www.britannica.com/science/histo...th-century

And since first school was in France here is some information on Deaf history in France:
https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/article/12/1/119/436365

  

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Made by magic (MJ) <3

This is an interesting topic! I don't know much about the history of deaf education aside from my own family members' experience, but I think we would have to ascertain what the attitude towards deafness would have been in wizarding Britain at the time. My mom was profoundly hard of hearing in New York state in the 60's and she had absolutely no accommodations made for her at school. Despite being fully oral (she had normal hearing until she was five), and excelling academically, a representative from the school suggested to her parents when she was in middle school that she not bother going to high school because "deaf kids could never graduate", and have a tutor visit her once a week instead to teach her homemaking skills so she could land a husband Thankfully my grandparents declined and she had a PhD now (and a masters from Gallaudet) , but that was the attitude of the educational system in the 60s.

My great grandmother's sister was also deaf (having lost her hearing after hitting her head on a rock in a fall at age 10) and attended the Kansas School for the Deaf in the early 1900s through 1910s, but her parents had a very superstitious view of her deafness. They viewed it as a punishment from God and she wasn't allowed to marry when she got engaged to a man she met at school or even speak in public. My grandpa can remember trying to talk to her in public when she lived with them (she was fully oral and could lip read well as nobody in the family learned to sign) and getting a smack upside the head for it.

Granted, that was in the rural U.S., and obviously not in the magical world, which can give us a lot more creative liscence, but the first big question to answer would be if there would have been a societal/political will for deaf wizards and witches to receive acconodations at school or even receive a formal education to begin with. There is evidence in the cannon of the Wizarding world having been more progressive in some social issues than the muggle world, so it's definitely possible.

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   Juliette Fernsby, Naeva Marshall

I feel like it’s come up before and we said it was very unlikely they would be successful long-term as British magic is so verbal and they didn’t have the inclusive education practices we have now to make up any gaps. I am presently considering a deaf character as well and have been thinking about what that would look like, but it definitely would depend on the characters background.

I think Cassius Lestrange might have a bit of insight as she had a character who used sign language (though wasn’t herself deaf)?

Hello it me! Emma Macmillan and Killian Macmillan were learning British Sign Language because their youngest son was Deaf. To my memory, BSL was relatively new in the late 1800s, & also is a bit of a mix between ASL and French Sign Language. (AKA, sign language symbols don't correlate directly to spoken languages.)

I would be really interested to see what Calla Potts can dig up because I was also going to say that there is an EXTREMELY rich cultural history for Deaf/HoH people, and I would love to see something similar in magical Deaf characters <3. Also, I echo Kayte's thoughts that Hogwarts in the 1800s is probably not best equipped to handle Deaf education — but maybe they're big into nonverbal magic?

Also, I imagine (but am down to be contradicted by other staff members <3) that Deaf people probably still face ableism in the magical world, but probably not at the same levels as Deaf historical people, because magic/because our Charming world is softer in general.

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MJ made this!

Rather aside from the deaf history piece - in terms of practical accommodations in Hogwarts - I would imagine that something like the 'Quick-Quotes Quill' spell could be done to transcribe the teachers words onto either paper, or a blackboard for the deaf student.
It wouldn't help with things like spell casting, but for things like potions, alchemy etc where verbalising isn't needed as much, it would be a relatively simple way for a student to at least know the theory content of the classes and give them a shot at keeping the grades to at least passing.

For the 'right' student they may be able to get a teacher to offer special tutoring in non-verbal magic - like Meserimus would probably tutor a kid he liked, or was in his hose --or they could learn that at the Flint Institute post Hogwarts.


It would be interesting to see someone working on something like a magical cochlear implant - the 19th century was obsessed with 'normalising' the body so it would be safe to assume there were attempts at magical interventions in hearing because there were definitely muggle attempts during the period, especially since oralism was the watch word of the day - ie learn through words or die trying and was adamantly opposed to sign language usage.

there was a big conference on deaf education in 1880, that was organised by a group opposed to sign language and the conferences 'conclusion' was that the oralist methodology should be used to educate the deaf and dumb. It was a shit show of a conference, hugely biased but was the basis of deaf education for years.

  

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