National Geographic Founder and Deaf Daughter

To contact us Click HERE

From National Geographic piece called So That We May All Know More of the World Upon Which We Live covers a piece about Gardiner Greene Hubbard, one of the 33 founders of the National Geographic Society, about his deaf daughter, Mabel, who grew up and married Alexander Graham Bell.

The thirty-three founders of the National Geographic Society were an adventurous and accomplished group. They included scientists, explorers, a journalist and a superintendent of the National Zoo. In recognition of the National Geographic Society’s upcoming 125th anniversary this series takes a look at their stories.

Hubbard’s progressive ideas encompassed education, and when confronted with the challenge of a deaf daughter, he did not shirk from the challenge. Young Mabel lost her hearing at age five after a bout of scarlet fever, and many children like her would have sidelined for the rest of their lives, kept out of society if not actually put in an asylum. However, Mabel received the best of educations, and when she was a teenager, a friend introduced her to a new teacher of the deaf in Boston. Alexander Graham Bell immediately took Miss Hubbard on as a pupil. Bell was a gifted teacher and Mabel thrived even though they had only a few lessons before Bell transferred her to the care of a colleague. For he was falling in love with Mabel. His explanation to her mother, Gertrude Hubbard, was somewhat evasive, but one suspects she grasped the situation immediately. She was sympathetic to the somewhat shabby professor, making sure he was a frequent guest at the house. One night, while seated at the piano, Bell turned to Mabel’s father and said, “Mr. Hubbard, sir, do you know that if I depress the forte pedal and sing ‘do’ into the piano, the proper note will answer me?” His performance produced an instant partnership that would change the world.

Read more at National Geographic. 

Read more about Alexander Graham Bell's wife, Mabel, who is the daughter of Hubbard seen in the article above, in a previous blog I did called The Adventurous Life and Love Story of Mable.

National Geographic covered many stories about deaf people such one article written earlier this year on how cell phones through texting enabled and empowered deaf children in Uganda to communicate with other people. Or even about the Bhutanese School for the Deaf.  Or an article on why deaf people have enhanced vision.

If you use the search feature of National Geographic and plug in the search word "deaf" you will find 24 pages (235 results) of links to pieces or articles on deafness issues, hearing loss, deaf animals, or deaf people. There are also 3 pages of search results for "hearing impaired," too, like a search result with a link to on which president inaugurations had its first closed-captioned TV broadcast for the hearing impaired.

Check it out.