Anyone who opens the homepage of the search engine Google this Saturday, the 30th, will come across an illustration by Ferdinand Berthier, an intellectual from France. That leaves the question: Who is the man honored with the company’s doodle?
Ferdinand Berthier, a prominent deaf educator at Google, went down in history for an important reason. At a time when people with hearing impairments had no access to society, Ferdinand fought for the rights of the community.
He was born in SaôneetLoire, France, in 1803. He was only eight years old when he joined the National Institute for the Deaf in Paris. While his parents assumed that the boy would learn techniques for routine work, Berthier went one step further. Inspired by his educators, he decided to pursue a career in this field.
After completing his studies, he began working as a teacher and was already a major professional at the National Institute for the Deaf at the age of 27. At the request of the then government, he was also responsible for the creation of the Société Centrale des Sourdsmuets, which focused on helping deaf people, which would reach a global level.
Portrait of Ferdinand Berthier /Source: Public Domain
The banquets
The main purpose of the entity was to claim that these people could gain access to equality in society through sign language. Ferdinand also created the first community banquet.
“An important development was the holding of the first banquet of the deaf community on November 30, 1834, to celebrate the birth of Abbé L’Épée. At the banquets, deaf people were able to meet, exchange ideas, spread sign language and experience mutual support,” writes Aline Lima da Silveira Lage in the dissertation “Deaf teachers in the House of Surdos”: “It took a long time, but they came back.”
main emphasis
As he gained more space, he began to devote himself to sign language and deaf culture, reports Google Discovery. In addition to work on sign language, Berthier also began producing biographical books about names that stood out in the fight for the rights of people with hearing impairments.
Because of this influence, the deaf educator was the first to be awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, an honorary French award. It is worth highlighting that this is most relevant in France.
“Thanks to Berthier’s hard work and advocacy, deaf and hard of hearing people can now enjoy more of their human rights than ever before, including access to medical care and the right to drive a vehicle,” Google said in a statement celebrating the educator’s career.