Vasile Adamescu (5 September 1944 – 6 December 2018) was a Romanian educator. Deafblind from age two, Adamescu taught children with sensory deficiencies. He was awarded the Romanian National Order of Merit in 2013.
Vasile Adamescu | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 5, 1944 Borcea |
| Died | December 6, 2018 (aged 74) Cluj-Napoca |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Early life and education
editVasile Adamescu was born in Borcea, a commune in Călărași County, southeast Romania, on 5 September 1944.[1] Vasile was the second child born to his parents, Zamfir and Voica; his mother died when he was an infant.[2] At age two he lost his sight and hearing after contracting meningitis.[1] He received no schooling until age eleven, when his father brought him to the School for the Visually Impaired in Cluj.[3] Some teachers at the school were reluctant to accept Adamescu, as they thought he would be better placed at a school for the deaf.[4] The principal of the school taught him the manual alphabet, and Florica Sandu, a special education teacher, taught him to speak, read, and write.[5] Adamescu wrote about his education:[4]
One day, while I was studying in the school museum, it occurred to my teacher to teach me the letter f. Every time I tried to associate a word with the letter I was learning. Initially she showed me the position of the teeth and tongue, necessary for the pronunciation of this letter, after which she lit a match and handed it to me to make me understand that f is the first letter of the word fire. I got scared and dropped the match over the old carpets in the museum. I then bent down, trying to find it. I knew the idea of fire, but I didn't know what word it was associated with. A story came to my mind from Borcea, my native village, when, by mistake, without knowing what I was doing, I set fire to the stable. This was when I began to understand that every object has a name. From now on I was curious to know the name of each object around me.
Adamescu graduated middle school in 1967 and from the Special High School for the Blind in Cluj in 1973.[4] That summer, he began studies at the Department of Defectology in the Faculty of History-Philosophy at Babeș-Bolyai University.[4] He was one of the first to graduate from the newly renamed Department of Psychopedagogy in 1977, graduating with an average of 9.75 out of 10.[2][5]
Artwork
editAdamescu was also an artist who worked with modeling in clay.[4] Between 1983 and 1986 he attended the folk school of fine arts in Cluj-Napoca, focusing on sculpture.[4] He created many forms in clay work, including busts, animals, and buildings.[2] An exhibition of Adamescu's work sponsored by the ASTRA Museum in Sibiu was held in 2014, featuring over 80 of his fired and unfired clay figures.[2]
Career and later life
editAdamescu was a teacher at the high school he attended, the Special High School for the Blind in Cluj-Napoca, from 1977 to 2004.[1] He prioritized the education of children with sensory deficiencies.[5]
After his retirement in 2004, he continued to advocate for those with sensory deficiencies.[4] Adamescu participated in international conferences, giving televised interviews, and consulting with educators and students.[4] In 2015 he became a member of the board of directors of Sense International Romania, a nonprofit organization dedicated to those with deafblindness.[6] He also ran free pottery workshops with the visually impaired and deaf and hard of hearing.[2]
He published his autobiography, Înfruntând viața (Facing Life), in three volumes, published in 2013, 2018, and 2020.[4] The work took about ten years to write; the text was written in Braille and transcribed on a computer.[7] It was the first book in Romania written by a deafblind person.[7]
Adamescu died in Cluj-Napoca on 6 December 2018.[8]
Honors
editHe was named the Honorary Citizen of Cluj-Napoca in 2010.[2] Sense International Romania named Adamescu a Promoter of the Rights of People with Deafblindness in 2018.[6]
In 2013, Romanian President Traian Băsescu awarded Adamescu the National Order of Merit at the level of Knight in recognition of his dedication to educating people with disabilities.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c Man, Maria (13 March 2018). ""Supraomul" Vasile Adamescu lansează volumul II al romanului autobiografic "Înfruntând viața"". Transilvania Reporter. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Ciobanu, Luminița (11 August 2014). "Expoziție excepțională la Sibiu: Vasile Adamescu. O viață". Jurnalul Național. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ "Vasile Adamescu - You cannot live without love". Sense Internațional România. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Buică-Belciu, Cristian (20 July 2021). "From Deafblindness to Multiple Sensory Impairment: a few explanatory notes on definition, terminology, and historical context" (PDF). Review of Psychopedagogy: 121–122. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ a b c "A murit profesorul clujean Vasile Adamescu, singurul român demutizat - FOTO". Știri de Cluj (in Romanian). 7 December 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Vasile Adamescu – a life dedicated to the rights of people with deafblindness". Sense Internațional România. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ a b c "Supraomul Vasile Adamescu, decorat de Băsescu cu Ordinul Naţional "Pentru Merit" în grad de Cavaler". www.antena3.ro (in Romanian). 31 January 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ Dobrescu, Petre (7 December 2018). "Vasile Adamescu a murit. Profesorul din Cluj era singurul român demutizat". Libertatea (in Romanian). Retrieved 17 November 2021.
External links
edit- "Vasile Adamescu - Înfruntând viața" 20-minute documentary about Adamescu's life (in Romanian) (2013)
- "Vasile Adamescu - ultimul interviu" 1-hour interview with Adamescu (in Romanian with English subtitles) (2018)