The Deaf | Page 7

speech, which shows again the connection of the ability to speak with the age of the occurrence of deafness. Of those born deaf, speech alone or in combination with other methods is used by 18.2 per cent; of those becoming deaf after birth and under five, by 27.4 per cent; of those becoming deaf after five and under twenty, by 75.3 per cent; and of those becoming deaf after twenty, by 97.7 per cent.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] There are no sharply dividing lines between the different degrees of deafness, but it is only those described that really constitute a special class. Persons whose hearing is such as to be of use even in some slight degree are rather to be distinguished as "hard of hearing."
[2] By this census both the partially deaf and the totally deaf were enumerated, or 89,287 in all. The former should not have been enumerated, the enumerators being instructed not to include those able to hear loud conversation.
[3] For the census returns for 1900, see "Special Reports of the Census Office. The Blind and the Deaf," 1906. This report was under the special direction of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who has long been interested in the deaf. The returns of the census for 1910 are yet to be revised, while at the same time additional data are to be secured to be published as a special report like that of 1906. As yet the census office has for 1910 only the actual enumeration of the deaf and dumb in the various states, and the returns with respect to other particulars regarding them are yet to be completed. See Volta Review, xiii., 1911, p. 399. Hence in our discussions we shall, except for the number by states, deal with the census of 1900. For a review of this census, see American Annals of the Deaf, Sept., 1906, to May, 1907 (li., lii.). In a number of states certain county officers are required from time to time to enumerate the deaf. For a census in one state, see Bulletin of Labor of Massachusetts, July-Aug., 1907.
[4] Included in the census of 1900 were 491 deaf-blind persons (totally deaf), and in that of 1910, 584.
[5] From statistics kindly furnished by the Census Bureau.
[6] This is just the opposite of the case with the blind.
[7] Special Reports, 1906, p. 79. Some 2,000 cases were thrown out for indefinite replies, leaving 35,479, upon which our percentages are based.
[8] A somewhat frequent classification of the deaf in respect to their power to speak is to regard them roughly as falling into three great divisions: 1. "Deaf-mutes," who come nearest to being deaf and dumb. They have always been deaf, and have never had natural speech. What speech they may possess has come from special instruction, with the result that it is more or less artificial. 2. "Semi-mutes," who are deaf, but who have once had hearing as well as speech; and this speech they are able to use to a greater or less degree, though in time it is likely to become more and more astray. 3. "Semi-deaf" persons, who are only partly deaf, and possess a little hearing, though it is too slight to be of real practical use; and who have voices most nearly approaching the normal. They belong somewhere between the really deaf and the hard of hearing.
[9] Special Reports, pp. 82, 240.
[10] Ibid., pp. 87, 240. For 8,966 no returns were made.
[11] On the subject of lip-reading, see especially E. B. Nitchie, "Lip-Reading: its Principles and Practice", 1912.
[12] This "sign language" is referred to at somewhat more length in
Chapter XIX.
[13] Sometimes called "the deaf and dumb alphabet".
[14] Special Reports, pp. 89, 240. For 2,365 no returns were made.
CHAPTER II
THE DEAF AS A PERMANENT ELEMENT OF THE POPULATION
INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF THE DEAF IN RELATION TO THE INCREASE IN THE GENERAL POPULATION
Are the deaf to be a permanent element in the constitution of the population? Are they always to be reckoned with in the life of the state and the regard of society? Would it not be well to inquire whether or not deafness may be eliminated, or at least reduced to an appreciable degree? These are questions that present themselves at the outset in a consideration of the relation of the deaf to society, and to them we now devote our attention.
Our first inquiry in the matter is directed to the question whether deafness as a whole is increasing, decreasing or remaining stationary, in relation to the general population. To determine this, we have recourse to the census returns of the deaf in connection with those of the general population. Unfortunately, however, comparisons of the different censuses respecting the deaf are not altogether to be depended upon, for the reason that they have not always been taken on the same basis,