”
TELL ME WITH
TOUCH:
ONE FAMILY’S
By Drew Hume
ONLY MEANS OF
COMMUNICATION
For many of us we take for granted
the ability to see and hear, which
are our other two commonly
used modes of communication.
Yet, there are well-documented
instances where families have had
to communicate only through the
use of touch.
family but also the most profound
story around touch I’ve ever heard.
Laura Bridgman (1829-1889) found
her family through touch. Her
biological family could not always
provide for her in the way that she
needed, though they did equip
her with a special set of tools.
This relates to people who are
deaf-blind, and the ways in which
they are nurtured in a family.
Also, I’m not just talking about
our biological family either, in a
number of cases it has a lot to
do with the families these people
have found beyond what we
would think of as the traditional
family unit. This particular example
is one of those instances where
family was created around touch.
Fortunately at the age of
8 she was sent to a special
educational institute where
she developed deep
bonds with her teachers
and peers at a school.
The most intriguing part
of this recount though, is
that the only method of
communication available
to them was through their
touch vocabulary.
Through my research I came
across this incredible story that
encompassed not only a story of
Laura is an important figure in needlework and sewing!
history because she is the first
documented case of this kind. When she was sent to a school for
Since the age of 2 she had lost the the blind, the instructor Samuel
use of four out of her
Howe
and
his
five senses due to
assistant
Lydia
“The vocabulary
illness. Blind, deaf,
Drew devised an
of
touch
was
all
unable to taste or
education
plan
Laura
needed
to
smell, she was left
to
suit
Laura’s
learn
the
alphabet,
with one sense only:
needs. This is what
touch.
biological
mathematics, biology her
family had missed,
and all the other
Even at home and
perhaps due to
subjects
you
and
I
with limited time,
their own lack of
studied )