Bridgman, Laura Dewey (1829-1889), was the first deaf and blind child to be successfully educated in the United States. Her achievement paved the way for the education of Helen Keller and other deaf-blind youths (see Keller, Helen ).
Laura was born on Dec. 21, 1829, in Hanover, New Hampshire. She lost her hearing and sight as a result of scarlet fever when she was about 2 years old. About six years later, Laura became the pupil of Samuel Gridley Howe, a doctor who headed the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind (now Perkins School for the Blind). Howe taught Laura the names of common objects by having her feel the names in raised letters pasted on the objects.
Laura later learned finger arrangements that represented the letters of the alphabet. She never learned to speak, and communicated mostly by finger-spelling and by having words spelled into her hand. She spent most of her life helping the teachers and housekeepers at the institution. She died on May 24, 1889.
