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Google Doodles of the Deaf

ByDeaf 21

Doodles featuring the Deaf can easily be counted on a pair of hands! At least one can ascertain there’s an element of quality behind these whereas with those featuring hearing people which are no doubt countless in number, its quantity that possibly counts more! Those for the Abbé de l’Épée and Dorothy Miles must certainly rank among the more unusual Doodles to have been created.

The following are featured: Ferdinand Berthier, Thomas Braidwood, Annie Jump Cannon, Charles-Michel de l’Épée, Tashiro Furukawa, Dorothy Miles, Kitty O’Neil and Emerson Romero. That is probably about the fullest extent of Google’s representation of the Deaf in the form of Doodles.

Ferdinand Berthier

Google: Today’s Doodle celebrates Deaf French educator and intellectual Ferdinand Berthier. He was one of the first advocates for Deaf culture in a time when those who had hearing differences were outcast by society. The artwork was designed by Paris-based Deaf guest artist Nicolas Combes.

Ferdinand Berthier Doodle September 30, 2023.

Thomas Braidwood

Google: As millions of children head back to school for the start of term, today we celebrate one educational institution in particular: the Braidwood Academy. Opened in 1760 in Edinburgh, Braidwood is considered the UK’s first school for deaf children and the first to include sign language in education. Thomas Braidwood, the school’s founder, had just one deaf student when the school first opened. It turned out that one student was all it took – by 1780, the number had increased to 20 students as Braidwood found success in his teaching methods.

The Thomas Braidwood/Braidwood Academy Google Doodle is one of the few to have come with a video detailing the story of Thomas Braidwood and his academy.

The British Deaf Association issued a statement in terms of historical inaccuracies related to the Google Doodle. To this end the BDA welcomed ‘the Google Doodle and linked video relating to British Sign Language, the Deaf community, and Braidwood’s Academy, but are disappointed that the poor quality of media coverage means that this gesture has fallen short.’

Thomas Braidwood Doodle September 19, 2017.

Annie Jump Cannon

Google: American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon spent her life studying the night sky. Today our homepage in the US is gazing at the stars Cannon loved so much for her 151st birthday. A pioneer in astronomy, Cannon developed the Harvard Classification scheme with Edward C. Pickering, which organised and categorized stars based on their temperatures.

Annie Jump Cannon Doodle December 11, 2014.

Charles-Michel de l’Épée

Google: Today’s Doodle honors the Abbé Charles-Michel de l’Épée, a French educator who founded the first public school for the deaf. Dispelling the misconception that people with impaired hearing were incapable of learning, Epee developed a visual method that became the blueprint for the teaching of the deaf in France and that changed countless lives at a time when many deaf people were discriminated against.

This Doodle was seen by most of the world’s Internet, and is possibly the one that has seen the widest exposure in terms of Deaf history and culture.

Great video by Centro De Relevo Colombia that explains the story behind the Abbé de l’Épée Doodle. Even though its in Spanish it clearly details how many thought the Deaf stupid until the Abbé de l’Épée began successfully teaching many by way his innovative system of signs.

Charles-Michel de l’Épée Doodle November 19, 2018.

Tashiro Furukawa

Google: To celebrate Tashiro Furukawa’s 170th birthday, students sign “Google” in both his original sign language, and the modern fingerspelling it evolved into. Tashiro Furukawa was a pioneer in blind and deaf education in Japan. He was a schoolteacher whose many contributions to education included opening the Blind and Deaf School in 1878, which is still opened to students to this day.

Tashiro Furukawa from Wikipedia.

Tashiro Furukawa Doodle March 27, 2015.

Dorothy Miles

Google: This Doodle celebrates Welsh poet and deaf community activist, Dorothy Miles. The Doodle, illustrated by deaf American guest artist Youmee Lee, shows Miles signing “follow the sun from rise to set, or bounce it like a ball” from her poem “Language for the Eye.”

Youmee Lee’s Google Doodle was seen on Google’s search for the UK and throughout the Americas. The locations were no doubt chosen because Dorothy, a native of Wales, was also well known in the Americas, especially the USA where she lived from 1957 to 1977. She studied at Gallaudet University and was also a leading member of the National Theatre of the Deaf.

The above post was chosen for it was the only one to feature the full animated Dorothy Miles Doodle.

Dorothy Miles Doodle August 19, 2024.

Kitty O’Neil

Google: Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Washington DC-based, Deaf guest artist Meeya Tjiang, celebrates the 77th birthday of Kitty O’Neil, once crowned the “the fastest woman in the world.” Kitty was a legendary American stunt performer, daredevil, and rocket-powered vehicle driver who was deaf since childhood. O’Neil was born on this day in 1946 to a Cherokee Native American mother and Irish father in Corpus Christi, Texas. When she was just a few months old, she contracted multiple diseases which led to an intense fever that ultimately left her deaf. She learned various communication modes and adapted for different audiences throughout her life, ultimately preferring speaking and lip reading mostly. O’Neil refused to see her deafness as a roadblock, often referring to it as an asset.

Kitty O’Neil Doodle March 24, 2024.

Emerson Romeo

Google: In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, this Doodle celebrates Cuban American silent film actor and activist Emerson Romero, who took inspiring action on and off the screen. He is credited with innovating some of the first techniques to make films accessible for Deaf people. Illustrated by Cuban American guest artist Derek Abella, today’s Doodle depicts Romero handling closed caption film.

Somewhat fewer saw this one from September 2024. It was shown in the Google regions covering the USA and the Caribbean.

Emerson Romero Doodle September 19, 2024.

Compared to all the Deaf Doodles listed above, none ever achieved the widespread coverage as the 2008 Doodle for the arch-enemy of sign language Alexander Graham Bell. It was reproduced on every regional Google search engine around the world.

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