Search Biographies

Rostron, Marion

ID
2359
Nationality
American
Occupation
Chair caner
Summary
Deaf-blind. After leaving the Perkins School for the Blind, was employed by Woolson House, a sheltered workshop, as a chair caner.
References
The Deaf Way, p.498.
Dates
1889-?

Betteridge, Alice

ID
0254
Nationality
Australian
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
First deaf-blind person to be educated in Australia; called the "Australian Helen Keller". Became deaf and blind at age 2 from meningitis; entered the New South Wales Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind in 1905, where she was placed in the care of Roberta Sinclair Reid of the school's department for the blind; Reid's role was similar to that of Anne Sullivan with Helen Keller. Betteridge married Will Chapman, also deaf-blind, in 1939, but lost him to a heart attack in 1944. Both lived at the Blackburn Institution for the Deaf. She died of cancer. Biography is A Girl like Alice (1990).
Dates
1901-1 September 1966

Walker, Charles

ID
2910
Nationality
Welsh
British
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
When he became deaf and blind has not been recorded, but at age 15 (1877) he entered a charitable institution for some basic instruction, learning to read with both the Moon raised-letter alphabet and with Braille. He drops out of the historical records after 1880.
References
Touch, Touch, and Touch Again, p.25-26.
Dates
1862?-?

Vlug, Leanor Henrietta Lindsay

ID
3679
Nationality
Canadian
born American
Occupation
Teacher
Summary
Born at Los Angeles, CA and deafened at age 10. Mainstreamed through high school graduation, then graduated Gallaudet College in 1967. Married deaf Canadian Henry Vlug and relocated with him to Canada. She raised a family, then went back to school and in 1994 completed a master's degree. Instructor and coordinator at Vancouver Community College, Western Institute of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, CNIB Deaf-Blind Services, and Greater Vancouver Association of the Deaf. Deaf spouse is Henry Vlug (q.v.), whom she married about 1967.
References
Deaf Women of Canada, p.259.
Dates
1945-

Branson, Mark Allen

ID
0321
Nationality
American
Occupation
Actor
Teacher
Rodeo rider
Sports
Summary
Born near Clinton, Oklahoma; diagnosed as deaf at age 2. Attended public schools and the Jane Brooks Oral School for the Deaf, Chickasha, OK, and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. Taught at several schools, including deaf-blind children at the Perkins School for the Blind; member of the National Theatre of the Deaf; played a minor role in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Disney, 1993). Died in Dallas, TX. Although he had been HIV-positive for 12 years, death was from a brain hemorrhage related to lymphoma.
References
Deaf Artists of America Newsletter, vol.7 no.4, May/June 1993, p.1,4; Deaf Life, June 1993, p.18-24, 26-27; March 1997, p.12-18.
Dates
13 February 1955-9 January 1997

Lorm, Hieronymus

ID
1750
Nationality
Ethnic German
Czech nationality
Occupation
Political activist
Deaf-blind
Newspaper editor
Inventor
Summary
Born as Heinrich Landesmann in Mokulov, south Moravia. Deafened at age 16, continuing his education through reading and lipreading. Working as a journalist, he became involved with the German political unrest of the 1840s, and joined the anti-Metternich activists. To avoid police persecution, he adopted the pseudonym of Hieronymus Lorm, and kept that name for himself even after the police discovered his real identity and he was forced to flee to Germany. After Metternich's fall in 1848, Lorm settled near Vienna, Austria, and worked as editor of the Wiener Zeitung newspaper. Progressive eyesight difficulties since his youth became total blindness in 1882. Inventor of a new touch alphabet to facilitate deaf-blind communication, which spread around the world. Returned to Moravia in 1892; wrote a philosophical work, Unjustified Optimism; died at Brno.
References
We Have Overcome, p.145-147.
Dates
1821-1902

Morriseau, Victorine

ID
2005
Nationality
French
Occupation
Deaf-blind
Summary
Possibly the first deaf-blind person to be taught; however, her education seems to have been confined exclusively to religion.
References
The Deaf Way, p.497.
Dates
1789-1832

Ivey, Lee S.

ID
3286
Nationality
American
Occupation
Interpreter
Sculptor
Painter
Artist
Summary
Born deaf at Asheville, NC; entered the North Carolina School for the Deaf at age 5. After graduation, became a housemaker and mother, but at age 30 returned to college, graduating Gallaudet University in 1992. At Gallaudet, she learned of and became an ardent discipline of De'VIA. Her main specialty was small sculptures made of polyform modeling compound; she also did painting and drawings. For a living, she worked as a freelance interpreter for deaf-blind persons, while continuing to experiment and develop her art, until her life was cut short by cancer.
References
Deaf Artists in America, p.341-344.
Dates
13 October 1957-3 January 1995

Brown, Patricia Anne Stewart "Patsy"

ID
2654
Nationality
Canadian
Occupation
Librarian
Deaf-blind
Summary
Born deaf at Campbellton, NB; attended the Mackay Institution for Protestant Deaf-Mutes, Montreal 1945-1955, then Gallaudet College 1955-1960 (B.S.). Worked as a cataloger in the library of the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton 1960-1982, but had to retire early due to blindness from Usher's Syndrome. In 1965, married George Ian Brown but was widowed in 1995.
References
Deaf Women of Canada, p.33-34; Deaf Heritage in Canada, p.34.
Dates
20 April 1939-

Potter, Kathleen

ID
2233
Nationality
American
Occupation
Activist
Deaf-blind
Summary
Founder and president of the Southern California Association of the Deaf-Blind. Taught sign language to blind people in Los Angeles.
References
Deaf Women, p.79.
Dates
fl. 1989