A Shared Language The school founded by Carl Oscar Malm’s played a central part in the birth of Finnish sign language. Malm taught his pupils in sign language, which he had learned in Sweden. By late 19th century, the use of sign language had become widespread in the Finnish deaf community. This was the language Lue lisää

Home is Where My Heart Is Education opportunities and associations allowed deaf people to come together. As a result, deaf people started to form more romantic relationships with one another than in previous years. The first known marriage between two deaf people took place in 1863, when Carl Oscar Malm’s students Fritz Hirn and Maria Lue lisää

To Malminharju and Beyond Associations are hubs of deaf social life. They have always provided the community with a variety of different activities. Hobby clubs, sewing clubs, study groups and group events have brought deaf people together since the end of the 19th century. Deaf associations also established separate sports clubs. The 1920s saw the Lue lisää

Associations as Homes for the Deaf The deaf organised early. The first association of the deaf was founded in Turku in 1886, and the national central organisation Finnish Association of the Deaf was established in 1905. Albert Tallroth, a pioneer of association activities, gave the community a motto: “Instead of waiting for the hearing to Lue lisää

Knowledge and Skills for Working Life Deaf people were quite well placed in working life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The teaching programmes of schools for the deaf always included activities that prepared pupils for handicraft professions. However, the first vocational schools for the deaf were not founded until the beginning of the Lue lisää

Welcome to the Finnish Museum of the Deaf! This exhibition is about the history of the deaf in Finland, places that have been meaningful for the sign-language community and the history of Finnish and Finnish-Swedish sign language. At the museum, you can learn about the history of the deaf from the point of views of Lue lisää

School is Where a Community is Born It is estimated that there were around 1,000–1,500 deaf people in Finland in the 19th century. They lived in different locations across Finland, often far away from each other. Porvoo school for the deaf was founded in 1846 by Carl Oscar Malm, who was deaf himself. It was Lue lisää