Deafness: A Personal Account

by David Wright

This is an account of David Wright's early education at a school for the deaf, and subsequent university career at Oxford, where he was a contemporary of Sidney Keyes, Keith Douglas, John Heath-Stubbs and Dom Mintoff. The second part traces the history of deaf education from its beginnings in the 16th century, and ends with an outline of recent developments, such as the Mary Hare Grammar School for the Deaf and the Audiology Research Unit at Reading.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

215 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

David John Murray Wright was an author, poet and editor. He was born in South-Africa of normal hearing. When he was 7 years old he contracted scarlet fever and was deafened as a result of the disease. He immigrated to England at the age of 14, where he was enrolled in the Northampton School for the Deaf. He studied at Oriel College, Oxford, and graduated in 1942.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just started this. Writing is a little formal (author born in Johannesburg in 1920), bordering on pretentious. However, I find deaf culture to be fascinating so this book appeals to me despite the tone. So far the most interesting part was that there is no such thing as absolute deafness (each person can at least feel the resonance of their voice in their body) and that many deaf people hear plenty of noise, but that the noise is fuzzy. So the wood chipper that woke us up this morning could be audible to a deaf person, could wake them up, but it would not be apparent to him/her what was making the noise. That seems totally unfair, to have the bother of sound but none of the reward. Anyway, the book is making me consider taking an ASL class in the spring semester.

Just finished, with a long pause in the middle. I thought of abandoning this book on account of it's scholarly tone but kept reading it on the train. The second half of the book is less a personal account and more of a history of deaf education. I was really surprised to learn that no one even attempted it until the last few hundred years. It is horrifying to think of an active and intelligent mind left without means of communication. It was also interesting to hear discussion of the pros and cons of oral and silent methods of education. This account also highlighted how much chance and fame determine the course of deaf education. On of the more interesting observations in the books is the authors description of how much a person's body can reveal about their feelings because people will disguise their emotions on their face but neglect the rest of their body. Anyway, can't really recommend this book for the average reader but it has shifted the way I perceive the world at least for now.

[Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to deafness, by David Wright, a South African poet who became deaf at age 7. For those of us who have never had to navigate this world, it will sensitize you to the difficulties of lip-reading, understand the myriad ways the mind can echo understanding this world, filled with different non-verbal clues. Imagine, eye-music and dancing feeling the other's vibration.
Not only do we learn about the horrors of the history of education of the deaf, or the difficulties of being cast aside or pitied, but we learn of other deaf poets, short cuts the deaf take.

The language is filled with delight: whether describing “corybantic brandishings” of sign language, nicknames for the teachers at a deaf school, the coupling of adjectives like "unthwarted" to energy of life… the description of an old monocled sea captain as “peppery old vexillary”… or painting London in the 1930’s "that would make the most brave-hearted flee the isle."
Highly recommend.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried reading this but I couldn't get through it. It was so detailed and the print was so small I just couldn't. I am fluent in American Sign Language but i am a hearing person and was hoping to get a more realistic feel of how it would be to be deaf...but this book was not working for me. If the book didn't reference olden times I think I would have liked it better. Forgetting this book and moving on...l

[flajol · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a definite change in pace between the two halves of the book. I whizzed through the autobiographical first half, but the second half was much slower going. Interesting though, and worth persevering for an overview of the development of Deaf education.