Literature, Deaf Themes in

From the time when the printed word became another means of human communication, culturally and audiologically deaf people have been cited consistently in written works that represent different societies from all eras, demonstrating that culturally and audiologically deaf people have had an enduring history of coexisting with hearing people.

The earliest allusions to deaf people are found in primary Jewish and Christian sources. These people are acknowledged in the sacred manuscripts primarily as protected groups with restricted legal rights.

Deaf people are quoted in the Bible, indicating that they existed in biblical times. The stories in the Bible largely portray these people as lost souls. Concurrently, the Bible instructs its readers to treat them benevolently. Varied scriptural explanations and lessons with themes involving deaf people suggest that societal views toward them were strongly correlated with the educational and life backgrounds of canonical writers. The central purpose of the presence of these groups in the Bible is to illustrate moral themes. This instructional purpose continues to resonate in the present day.

The other type of written works with deaf themes produced during antiquity primarily comprises the public statements of philosophers and intellectuals. Their basic argument is that the absence of hearing causes deficiencies in critical reasoning. In 355 BCE, Aristotle is quoted as [Page 664]saying, “Those who are born deaf all become senseless and incapable of reason.” For many centuries, this sweeping statement was widely interpreted as saying that present-at-birth deaf people were incapable of being educated. Modern scholars continue to debate this principle, arguing on the grounds of an omission error—speech training. Other documents indicate that the Aristotelian school also believed that speech was closely correlated with the potential of deaf people to become thinkers.

Scant direct references to sign language exist in surviving Greek plays, corroborating a public awareness of sign language in early times as another form of human communication. Despite the presence of sign language in these scripts, readers are offered little insight into the lives of culturally Deaf people.

Another important category of early writings revealing societal perceptions of deaf people is legal documents. Legal systems became necessary as civilizations changed from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Diverse legal systems from across the Roman Empire were blended into a common legal system called the Justinian Code for improved legal protection of every citizen residing within the empire. Regarded by most legal experts as one of the most important written works created during Roman times, this code offers consistency and judiciousness. According to this manuscript, completed in 529 CE, certain legal privileges were granted to members of Roman Deaf communities on the basis of the following criteria: how the individual became deaf, the degree of hearing that the individual had, and whether the deaf individual had acquired an education.

This code remains the most important source of information about how the deaf were regarded during this period. While deaf people were victims of general mistreatment, the Justinian Code documents improved treatment of the deaf by their contemporaries; for example, it exempted mostly literate Deaf people from legal, and perhaps social, inequalities. Attitudes toward deaf people as described in this legally binding document are also elucidated by a few stories with deaf characters that have survived.

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