Deaf Teller (George W. Veditz). Visual & Performing Arts Essay

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George Veditz, the son of German-speaking immigrant parents, is a pivotal figure in the Deaf history. Veditz was born in Baltimore in 1861. At the age of 8, he affected by scarlet fever and lost his hearing. After completing his studies at the Maryland School for the Deaf, Veditz joined Gallaudet College (Shea, 1). He later taught for 17 years at Colorado School for the Deaf to become a very prominent deaf educator. Veditz then started the alumni association for Maryland School for the Deaf and Gallaudet College for the Deaf where he studied.
After graduating, he attended Gallaudet College where he was trained as a teacher. He later used his knowledge to teach at Maryland School of the Deaf and Colorado School of the Deaf. In 1904, he was elected to the position of a president at National Association of the Deaf (NAD) where he served for two terms until 1910. Veditz became the president of NAD at a very turbulent time. Many people were against the use of sign language over “oralism” in deaf education.
Later on, visionary Veditz decided to preserve sign language. Veditz mainly focused on preserving sign language because it was facing threatens and could easily “disappear under the pressures of oralism” . Hence, Veditz spearheaded the NAD’s project of “Preservation of Sign Language.” He succeeded in raising funds to record presentations on sign language on film. Thus, Veditz became a “smooth signer” initially by having a private instructor around him and later by joining Maryland School for the Deaf to learn more at an early age. Veditz became a “smooth signer” because he was a language artist who could smoothly weave a story to make the complex utterances seem beautiful and straightforward. Veditz used his education to teach others in his two former schools. This is an indication that he used formal sign language training to teach others.
George W. Veditz lost his hearing at the age of 8 years. Before joining the Maryland School of the Deaf in his early teens, he was being taken through sign language by a private instructor. Fast forward, George ended up being a teacher at the Colorado School of the deaf and his former school irrespectively. What I find most encouraging is about George’s interest in the sign language. He was primarily concerned with the preservation of sign language. For that reason, he was happy teaching others about sign language. He expressed concerns that sign language would get extinct from oral-ism pressures (Krentz, 2016).
As the president of the National Association for the Deaf between the years 1904 to 1910, he decided to incorporate technological advancement into the art of sign language. His primary objective was to inform as many persons as he could about the fears of the NAD. Thus, he came up with the use of motion pictures in sign language (Krentz, 2016).
George’s films aimed at both the hearing and the deaf. The films were for the entire public. The deaf were seen as a disadvantaged group, thus, his audience had to include ...