Search Biographies

Coxey, Edith Ann

ID
0718
Nationality
English
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
Became deaf and blind at an early age; admitted to the Manchester Institution for the Deaf and Blind in 1894 at age 12.
References
Touch, Touch, and Touch Again, p.57-59.
Dates
__ September 1881-?

Bates, Francis W.

ID
0012
Nationality
American
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Activist
Summary
During the 1930s, founded the American League for the Deaf-Blind (now the American Association of the Deaf-Blind).
Dates
fl. 1935

Will, Mary Ann

ID
3007
Nationality
Scottish
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
Born deaf into an all-blind family (father, mother and 2 other sisters). Entered the Asylum of the Blind of Scotland, Edinburgh, in 1886, but in 1888 her father withdrew all 3 of his children for unknown reasons. Mary Ann reappeared later as an adult worker, but no other information is known.
References
Touch, Touch, and Touch Again, p.47.
Dates
fl. 1888

Thexton, _______ (Miss)

ID
2762
Nationality
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
Resided at the school for the deaf at Buxton, Derbyshire, England.
References
Peeps into the Deaf World, p.105-106; Snapshots of the Deaf, p.234-235.
Dates
fl. 1900

Speer, Kathleen

ID
2610
Nationality
American
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
First deaf-blind person to be successfully trained to use a guide dog.
References
Deaf Women, p.79.
Dates
fl. 1982

McLean, David Brown

ID
1917
Nationality
Scottish
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
Born with hearing and sight, but had lost both for a while by the time he entered the Glasgow Blind Asylum at age 7 in 1901. His case was unusual in that the Asylum experimented with assigning him a full-time companion, Robert Bruton, a "normal" boy of 12, to concentrate on teaching McLean articulation. This lasted almost 2 years, 1901-1904, until McLean had progressed well enough that Bruton was reassigned to other tasks. McLean entered the school's print shop at age 16, but drops out of the records after that.
References
Touch, Touch, and Touch Again, p.70-76.
Dates
1894?-?

Audelay, John

ID
3953
Nationality
English
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Poet
Minister
Catholic priest
Religion
Clergy (Catholic)
Summary
Nothing is known of Audelay's life beyond what appears in the manuscripts of his poems. He was blind, deaf and often ill. A published collection of his poems bears the date 1426, and at some time he was first priest to Lord Strange (1397-1449). His 55 poems all have religious themes.
References
The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (2000). Retrieved 24 March 2004 from http://www.xreferplus.com/entry/768290.
Dates
fl. 1426

Hall, Martha

ID
1250
Nationality
English
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
A guardian applied for Hall's admission to the Manchester Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in 1864, when she was 15 years old. Apparently she was not accepted, and what happened to her after that is unknown.
References
Touch, Touch, and Touch Again, p.78.
Dates
1849?-?

Obrecht, Martha

ID
2088
Nationality
French
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
Supposedly deafened and blinded in childhood by the trauma of witnessing some of the fighting in the Franco-Prussian War (1871). Sent to the school for the deaf run by nuns at Larnay, France, where she lived for probably the rest of her life.
References
Peeps into the Deaf World, p.94.
Dates
fl. 1917

Price, Mike

ID
2246
Nationality
American
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Factory worker
Summary
Deaf and blind from Usher's Syndrome. Spent 10 or 12 years in a state residential school for the deaf, then 2 years at Gallaudet College (1974-1976), where his Usher's Syndrome was discovered. Worked as an assembler for an electronics firm.
References
Living with Deaf-Blindness, p.91-103.
Dates
fl. 1979