Magarotto, Antonio

Born near Vicenza; became deaf at age 3 from meningitis. Attended the Pendola institution at Siena. Instrumental in the founding and guiding of the Federation of Italian Associations of the Deaf (now Ente Nazionale Surdomuti, National Union of the Deaf) starting in 1921. In 1932, protested face-to-face to Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator, that Italian law required the head of the national association of the deaf to be hearing, and demanded that this be changed. Charmed with Magarotto's chutzpah, Mussolini agreed. In 1940, Magarotto became head of that organization, its first deaf head. Postwar, he summoned a worldwide meeting of deaf people at which the World Federation of the Deaf was born, in 1951. Also active in other international deaf associations; received many Italian and international awards, including an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Gallaudet University in 1964. Died at Padova. A biography and "documentation" of his life is Antonio Magarotto: Una Vita per Un Ideal (1994). Hearing son, also active in deaf matters, was Cesare Magarotto (q.v.).