Abeé Charles-Michel de l'Épée is widely regarded as one of the main founders of deaf education. Épée's interest in working with the deaf began in the 1750s, when he met two young deaf sisters who were communicating using sign language. Épée believed that deaf people were capable of using and understanding language.

He dedicated his life to teaching the deaf, trying to bring them into Christianity to save their souls. He began the world's first public school for the deaf and taught religion and French.

Two years after Épée's death in the French Revolution (1789), the French National Assembly praised him as a "Benefactor to Humanity."

Épée's ideas strongly influenced deaf education throughout the 19th Century. The rise of Oralism challenged his methodology (known as Manualism) and threatened to erase his major contributions to deaf education.

Today Épée is remembered for his early recognition of sign language as the main method of communicating with the deaf and his willingness to openly discuss his methods and spread his teaching philosophy.