Ferdinand Berthier

Ferdinand Berthier (; 30 September 1803 – 12 July 1886) was a French deaf educator, intellectual and political organiser in nineteenth-century France. He was one of the earliest champions of deaf identity and culture.

Early life Born in 1803 in the town of Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, France, Berthier first attended the Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris as a young student in 1811, when the school was under the directorship of Abbé Roch-Ambroise Sicard. He came from the rural south-east of France to learn basic vocational skills and literacy to prepare him for work as a tradesman.

He was influenced by his teacher Roch-Ambroise Auguste Bébian, a hearing man who had learned French Sign Language and published the first systematic study and defense of the language. Berthier was also influenced by two important deaf students of the school who later became teachers: Jean Massieu and Laurent Clerc. By the age of 27, Berthier had become one of the more senior professors at the school.

Deaf community work

In late 1837, Berthier petitioned the French government for permission to create the Société Centrale des Sourds-muets (the Central Society for Deaf-mutes), which was officially founded the following year. By the 1860s, the members were no longer those closely to Berthier and his principles, but government officials, doctors and merchants. Berthier died on 13 July 1886 in Paris at the age of 82. On September 30, 2023, a Google Doodle was dedicated to his legacy.

Published works L'Abbé Sicard... précis historique sur sa vie, ses travaux et ses succès... (Paris: Charles Dounoil, 1873) Histoire et statistique de l’éducation des sourds-muets (Paris: chez l’auteur, 1836) Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages d’Auguste Bébian (Paris: J. Ledoyen, 1839)