Alice Cogswell (1805–1830) was the inspiration to Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet for the creation of the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, the first school for Deaf children in the United States.

At the age of two, Alice became ill with "spotted fever" (cerebral-spinal meningitis). This illness took her hearing and later she lost her speech as well. At the time, deafness was viewed as equivalent to a mental illness, and it was widely believed that the deaf could not be taught. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a local Christian minister decided to teach her to communicate through pictures and writing letters in the dirt. He and Alice's father, Dr. Mason Cogswell, decided that a formal school would be best for her, but no such school for deal children existed in the United States.

Alice Cogswell and six other deaf students entered the school that would become the American School for the Deaf in April 1817. Within the American Deaf Community, Alice Cogswell is a remarkable figure in the history of deaf culture, illustrating a breakthrough in deaf education. She showed that the Deaf are capable of learning and contributing to the general society.