Tuesday 23 February 2010

L'abbé de L'Epée

Charles-Michel de L'Epée, born inVersailles in 1712, stands next to Saint-Louis cathedral. He is the person who laid some of the foundations of sign language (as seen here, "Dieu" or "God" in sign language) and was one of the first men to consider deaf people as perfectly normal and capable of communication.
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Voici Charles-Michel de L'Epée, né à Versailles en 1712, dont la statue se trouve à côté de la cathédrale Saint-Louis. C'est à cet homme que les sourds doivent d'être traités normalement, ainsi que l'initialisation du langage des signes, visible ici sur sa tablette.

21 comments:

Lowell said...

Very interesting, Ciel. And I learned something tonight having never heard of L'Epee.

Dina said...

Well then, he was quite a pioneer.
The statue is a good sign that he is remembered and appreciated.

Olivier said...

un grand homme (amusant de voir que sur la tablette c'est le mot "DIEU" qui est écrit), dire qu'il a fallut se battre pour faire reconnaitre le droit aux sourds, c'est aberrant

Small City Scenes said...

Well good for him and I am glad he has been remembered. MB

VP said...

Did they make a statue of him while he is swearing?

Paulie said...

Very interesting hero of France!

Malyss said...

Je connaissais son nom grâce à une rue, mais je ne savais pas pourquoi il était célèbre! ce sont des gens comme ça que l'on devrait honorer plus souvent, notamment par des films ou des séries tv!

Cezar and Léia said...

I think he was very special and your picture is outstanding!
Hugs
Léia

tapirgal said...

LOL, VP! Nice pic, Ciel. You remembered my return date, I'm not sure how. I didn't expect to come back with a bad cold AND jet-lag AND work, so it's taking me a little time to get back to my commenting/browsing fun. Thanks for your visits while I was gone :)

Halcyon said...

A nice statue to remember someone who did some good in this world.

B SQUARED said...

He is certainly worthy of a statue.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I learned something new. I'm happy he has been immortalized in a statue! We actually have the National Technical Institute for the Deaf here in Rochester.

Louis la Vache said...

«Louis» had read about L'Epée, but had forgotten about him - so «Louis» thanks you for the reminder!

James Mark said...

A heart-warming snippet: I agree with the comment about a film or TV series. Whilst we rightly criticise the terrible blind spots of our predecessors, it's worth asking what ours might be.

Bergson said...

je dois dire que je n'entends rien au langage des sourds

stromsjo said...

I wonder what persons (if any) in our day and age will be considered pioneers a couple of centuries down the line.

cieldequimper said...

@ Per: you are so right...

Alain said...

Le langage des sourds muets est toujours émouvant à voir pratiquer, surtout quand il s'agit de personnes jeunes.

Catherine said...

Un bien bel hommage, et un angle parfait pour ta photo.

A l a i n said...

Un grand monsieur; il y a pas mal de célébrité chez toi; tu avais un beau ciel bien nette.

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

I am glad that we live in a world that is more kind to the disabled, and he had a hand in making the world a better place.
Three Rivers Daily Photo