Laura Bridgman

Laura Bridgman. She was the first deaf-blind American to achieve a significant education, becoming a celebrated figure in the 19th century. Her groundbreaking instruction under Samuel Gridley Howe at the Perkins School for the Blind demonstrated the educability of people with severe sensory impairments. Her case profoundly influenced contemporary thought on human development, language acquisition, and the philosophy of education.

Early life and education

Laura Dewey Bridgman was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, to farmer Daniel Bridgman and his wife Harmony. At age two, she contracted scarlet fever, which destroyed her sight, hearing, sense of smell, and nearly all sense of taste. She lived in isolation on the family farm until 1837, when her story reached Samuel Gridley Howe, the pioneering director of the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. Intrigued by the challenge, Howe brought the eight-year-old to Perkins Institution, aiming to educate her. His initial methods involved labeling common objects like keys and spoons with raised letters, teaching her to associate the objects with their manual spellings. This process, a precursor to later methods for the deaf-blind, successfully unlocked her understanding of language and communication.

Work with Samuel Gridley Howe

Howe’s work was a meticulous, highly publicized pedagogical experiment. He developed a system where Bridgman learned the manual alphabet by feeling the hand shapes of others. She then progressed to reading embossed print and writing with a pencil. Her rapid intellectual development was documented in Howe’s extensive reports and in the school’s annual reports, which were circulated widely. Philosophers like Charles Dickens visited her during his 1842 tour of America, later describing her in his American Notes. Her education also attracted the attention of notable figures including Dorothea Dix and influenced debates between proponents of manualism and oralism in deaf education. Howe saw her as living proof of his beliefs in the innate human capacity for reason and moral sense, regardless of physical circumstance.

Public recognition and influence

Bridgman became an international celebrity and a symbol of human potential. Her case was cited in theological and philosophical debates about consciousness and the soul, influencing thinkers in Europe and America. Her ability to learn, write letters, and engage in complex thought challenged prevailing notions about disability. The publicity surrounding her education brought significant fame and funding to the Perkins School for the Blind, helping to establish its reputation. Furthermore, her success provided a direct inspiration for later educators, most notably Anne Sullivan, who would teach Helen Keller. Sullivan studied the records of Howe’s methods at Perkins before undertaking her work with Keller.

Later life and death

After her formative education, Bridgman remained at the Perkins Institution for most of her life, where she assisted with sewing and simple tasks. She maintained a wide correspondence and received many visitors, but her world was largely confined to the school and the New England community that knew her. In her later years, she lived at the school’s facility in South Boston. She died on May 24, 1889, at the age of 59, from complications following an illness. Her death was noted in newspapers across the United States and in Great Britain, marking the passing of a figure who had captivated the public imagination for decades.

Legacy and cultural impact

Laura Bridgman’s legacy is foundational in the history of special education. Her story demonstrated that individuals who are deaf-blind could be educated, paving the way for Helen Keller’s more famous achievements. The pedagogical techniques developed for her influenced methods used at the Perkins School for the Blind and beyond. Historians of disability, such as Ernest Freeberg, have examined her life as a crucial chapter in changing social attitudes. While her fame was later eclipsed by Keller’s, scholars recognize Bridgman’s prior role in challenging the boundaries of human communication and perception. Her life continues to be studied in fields including disability studies, the history of education, and Victorian era cultural history.

Category:American people with disabilities Category:Deaf-blind people Category:19th-century American women