author
Pierre Desloges
b. 1747
An early Deaf writer in 18th-century France, he is best remembered for defending sign language in print at a time when Deaf voices were rarely heard. His surviving work offers a rare, personal window into Deaf life and language before modern Deaf education was fully established.
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About the author
Born in the Touraine region of France in 1747, Pierre Desloges later moved to Paris, where he worked as a bookbinder and upholsterer. He lost his hearing as a child after smallpox and did not learn to sign until adulthood, when another Deaf man introduced him to it.
Desloges is best known for writing Observations d'un sourd et muet sur un cours élémentaire d'éducation des sourds et muets, published in 1779. The book is widely noted as one of the earliest published works by a Deaf author and as an important defense of sign language, showing that Deaf people had already developed a rich language of their own.
He also wrote political works during the years around the French Revolution. Many details of his later life remain uncertain, but the works he left behind still matter for the history of Deaf culture, sign language, and self-advocacy.