List of deaf people

This is an incomplete list of notable deaf people.

Important Deaf figures in Deaf history

• Chuck Baird, (1947–2012) American painter and performer, one of the founding members of the De'Via Deaf art movement
• Casar Jacobson, Norwegian-Canadian first ever deaf winner of Miss Canada (2013), a disability rights activist and the UN Woman Youth Champion.
• Ferdinand Berthier, French intellectual, published several articles, first deaf person to receive the French Legion of Honour, founder of world's first deaf organization
• Julia Brace (1807–1884), early American deaf-blind student at the Hartford School for the Deaf
• John Brewster Jr. (1766–1854), American, itinerant artist of the Federalist Period in America
• Laura Bridgman, (1829–1889), American, first deaf-blind student of Dr. Samuel Howe at the Perkins School for the Blind
• Teresa de Cartagena, Spanish conversa nun and mystic author of the 15th century who became deaf in later life. The first mystic author in Spanish.
• Laurent Clerc (1785–1869), student and teacher (1798–1816) at the Paris deaf school of the Abbé de l'Épée ; accompanied Thomas Gallaudet to America to teach deaf children. Co-founded the first deaf school in North America in 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut.
• Pierre Desloges (1742–?), French deaf writer and bookbinder, first known deaf person to publish a book
• Andrew Foster, (1925–1987), American educator, first Black deaf person to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet College, Christian missionary to Africa
• William Elsworth "Dummy" Hoy (1862–1961), American baseball player
• I. King Jordan, first deaf president (eighth overall) of Gallaudet University
• Helen Keller, American deaf-blind writer, lecturer, and actress
• Alice Cogswell, first deaf student at American School for the Deaf

Notable Deaf people

• Dimitra Arapoglou, deaf member of Greek parliament, from 2007-2009
• Sean Berdy, actor and comedian
• Linda Bove, actress, known particularly for the role of Linda the Librarian on the children's television program Sesame Street
• Bernard Bragg, performer, writer, director, poet, and artist
• Deanne Bray, actress who played the lead role on Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye
• Oreste Carpi, Italian painter
• Tamika Catchings, Basketball player
• Michael Chorost, writer
• Willy Conley, playwright, actor, photographer
• Robert R. Davila, ninth president of Gallaudet University
• Nyle DiMarco, model and 2015 winner of America's Next Top Model
• Izrael Zachariah Deutsch, deaf Jew who wrote a memoir about surviving the Holocaust
• Thomas Edison, American inventor
• Aryana Engineer, actress
• Ashley Fiolek, 4-time Women's Motocross Champion
• Phyllis Frelich, Tony Award winner for her role in the stage production of Children of a Lesser God
• Claudia L. Gordon, lawyer
• Matt Hamill, MMA fighter
• Russell Harvard, actor
• T. Alan Hurwitz, tenth president of Gallaudet University and former Vice President of National Technical Institute for the Deaf
• Alan Kilby, United Kingdom professional wrestler
• Jim Kyte (b. 1964), first (and to date, only) deaf person to play in the National Hockey League
• Ryan Lane, actor and model
• Rush Limbaugh, American conservative radio talk show host
• Fernanda Machado Brazilian artist, actress and deaf poet
• Mojo Mathers (b. 1966), New Zealand politician
• Marlee Matlin, only deaf person to win an Academy Award (Best Actress) for her role in Children of a Lesser God
• Caleb McDuff racing driver
• Dorothy Miles, deaf poet and activist
• Betty G. Miller, American artist
• Lawrence R. Newman, deaf educator and activist, and served two terms as President of the National Association of the Deaf
• Michael Ndurumo, deaf educator from Kenya, third deaf person from Africa to obtain a Ph.D.
• Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly, (b. 1880) deaf blind black lawyer, Yale alumnus
• Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw, (b. 1912) British mathematician and politician
• Kitty O'Neil, stuntwoman, high-speed racer
• Andrew Phillips, lawyer
• Marie Jean Philip, teacher and leading international advocate for the right to sign language
• Will J. Quinlan, American Artist, etcher, painter
• Granville Redmond, American painter
• Terrylene Sacchetti, actress
• Signmark, Finnish rap artist
• Slava Raškaj (1877–1906), Croatian painter
• Howie Seago, actor and director
• The Silent Warrior, American professional wrestler and founder of the Deaf Wrestling Alliance.
• Elizabeth Steel, earliest record of a deaf Australian
• Louise Stern, writer and artist
• Shoshannah Stern, actress in Jericho and Weeds
• Ted Supalla, researcher and professor
• Mariko Takamura, deaf Japanese musician
• Sue Thomas, first deaf person to work as an undercover investigator doing lip-reading of suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• Douglas Tilden, American sculptor
• Clayton Valli, deaf linguist and ASL poet
• George Veditz, former president of the National Association of the Deaf, and one of the first people to film sign language
• Heather Whitestone, first deaf woman to win the title of Miss America
• David Wright, South African-born British poet
• Miha Zupan, Slovenian basketball player, first deaf person to play in the Euroleague

Notable people who are hard of hearing

• Lance Allred, American basketball player, first deaf person to play in the NBA
• Guillaume Amontons, French inventor and physicist
• Cliff Bastin, British footballer
• Halle Berry, American actress, acquired unilateral hearing loss
• Luis Buñuel, Spanish surrealist filmmaker and poet
• Bill Clinton, former President of the United States
• Gertrude Ederle, American competitive swimmer, first woman to swim the English Channel
• Lou Ferrigno, American actor and bodybuilder
• Walter Geikie, Scottish painter
• Francisco Goya, Spanish painter
• Oliver Heaviside, British engineer, mathematician and physicist
• Georgia Horsley, Miss England 2007 and contestant in Miss World 2007
• Holly Hunter, American actress, completely deaf in one ear
• Katie Leclerc, American actress, known especially for her leading role in Switched at Birth
• Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA
• Rob Lowe, American actor, completely deaf in right ear
• Henrietta Leavitt, American astronomer
• Harold MacGrath, American author
• Sir William McMahon, Australian politician and Prime Minister
• Pierre de Ronsard, French poet
• Adam Savage, American science educator
• R. N. Taber, English poet
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian rocket scientist and pioneer of space exploration studies
• Judith Wright, Australian poet
• Umesh Valjee, Popular deaf cricketer who won the Disability cricket of the Year for England in 2011.Captain of the England

Deaf and hard of hearing musicians

• Mandy Harvey, American jazz singer
• Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer
• Sean Forbes, American musician, songwriter, and rapper
• William Boyce, British composer
• Rudi Carrell, Dutch popular singer
• Gabriel Fauré, French composer
• Johnnie Ray, American popular singer
• Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer
• Pete Townshend, British lead guitarist and songwriter
• Evelyn Glennie, Scottish percussionist
• Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese popular singer and songwriter
• Ryan Adams, American alternative country artist
• George Martin, English bandleader and producer
• Foxy Brown, American rap artist
• Brian Wilson, American musician and songwriter
• Danny Elfman, film score composer and former member of Oingo Boingo
• Lars Ulrich, Danish drummer^[1]
• Kyo, singer of Dir En Grey
• Mabel Hubbard Bell, wife of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell
• TL Forsberg, American avant-garde rock singer
• Bob Hiltermann, drummer for Beethoven's Nightmare, an all-deaf rock band
• John Bruce Wallace, American composer and avant-garde, free jazz, fusion, experimental, improvisational guitarist

References