| AdminHistory | British Deaf and Dumb Association, is now known as the British Deaf Association (BDA). It is a British charity representing those deaf people who use British Sign Language. It was originally formed in 1890 by Francis Maginn to protect sign language and the Deaf community. This followed directly from the Milan Congress of 1880. The Congress-which excluded Deaf people-decided that the oralist method was the only approach that should be used in schools and that sign language would not be taught. A royal commission report followed in 1889 which established the Pure Oral System being established. The BDA campaigned against this for many years - and continues to do so. It was not until the 1970s that some schools began to look again at encouraging sign language. The advent of sign language and its acceptance by the general public resulted in deaf leaders slowly coming back to the forefront starting with Jock Young as the first Deaf Chair in 1983 and subsequently it was in the mid 1990's before it had its first Deaf Chief Executive, Jeff McWhinney. |