Résumé
Laurent Clerc was born on December 26, 1785 in La Balme-les-Grottes, a small village in the Lyon region (France). Son of the mayor, it is discovered that he is profoundly deaf. He was sent to the Institution des Sourds-Muets de Paris.
He arrived practically illiterate, but showed an extraordinary intelligence and became a teacher. During a journey to England he met an American pastor who had come to find a method of education for deaf children in New England. He decides to leave with him.
The two men founded the first school for American deaf-mutes.Their establishment will serve as a model for the creation of many other schools and will even lead to the foundation of the Gallaudet University in Washington.