History of
the manual alphabet Gallaudet "L" at temple closes to
"G" Laurent Clerc "H" hand brushes cheek twice Gallaudet
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Brief History of ASL 5th century B.C.--
According to the American Sign Language Dictionary on
CD-ROM, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates thought it
perfectly logical for deaf people to communicate using their
hands, heads, and other body parts, being naturally deprived
of the use of their hearing. 4th century B.C.--
Aristotle made the observation that people who are deaf are
often also dumb, a statement that translated poorly into
other languages, apparently causing the unwarranted
association of deafness with stupidity and unteachability
which lasted for many centuries to come. 1520-1584-- Pedro Ponce de
Léon created a system of gestures to aid in the
education of the deaf, working mainly with the de Velasco
family of Spain. 1579-1629-- De Léon’s
system was falsely credited to Juan Pablo Martin Bonet, who
is often thought to be the father of sign language. 1680-- George Dalgreno developed a
manual alphabet called the Didascalocophus.
Dalgreno’s alphabet required two
hands and assigned each letter a spot on the fingers or palm
of the right hand, which were pointed to by the left index
finger or thumb. 1715-1780-- Jacob Rodriguez
Pereira is credited with spreading de Léon’s
alphabet across Europe, adapting it slightly to incorporate
thirty handshapes which corresponded to sounds. Late 18th century-- Up to this
point in history, any attempts to educate the deaf were done
on a small, private scale-- both de Léon and Pereira
instructed children of noble families (where recessive genes
tended to appear). This tendency changed with the creation
of a National Institution for Deaf-Mutes in France, one of
the first schools to attempt instruction of the deaf. The
Abbé de l’Epée, the founder of the French
Institute, thought that the simple series of handshapes
already in common use by the deaf (known as Old French Sign
Language, or OFSL) could be modified to use "correct" French
grammar. L’Epée advocated the usage of affixes
and created a system that essentially reproduced spoken
French with the hands. 1793-- William Thornton, an
American, wrote an article calling attention to the fact
that there were no schools for deaf children in America,
almost two hundred years since the landing of the
Pilgrims. 1808-- The Abbé Sicard,
l’Epée’s successor, who preferred OFSL and
its lack of traditional French grammar, compiled a
two-volume dictionary of handsigns. 1815-- Thomas Gallaudet, an
American, went to Europe with the hopes of learning a method
of teaching deaf children. He studied at the National
Institute for Deaf-Mutes under Laurent Clerc
(1785-1869). 1817-- Clerc and Gallaudet founded
the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of
Deaf and Dumb Persons in West Hartford, Connecticut (now
known as the American School of the Deaf). This was the
first permanent public American school for the deaf. Clerc
was America’s first deaf teacher of the deaf, and is
responsible for bringing OFSL to America, where it would
play a large part in the development of American Sign
Language. (Sixty percent of ASL signs come from OFSL.) 1853-- The New England Gallaudet
Association of the Deaf was founded to address concerns of
education of deaf children, discrimination, and a general
lack of public understanding about deafness. 1864-- The National Deaf-Mute
College (now Gallaudet University) was founded by
Gallaudet’s son Edward, who was fluent in ASL as well
as English. The school was authorized by Abraham Lincoln to
confer college degrees. Women were first admitted to the
college in 1887. (By comparison, Middlebury College began
accepting women in 1883.) 1864-- Bernard Engelsman, a
teacher from Vienna, founded the first pure oral school in
America (teaching speech instead of sign), which later
became known as the New York Institution for the Improved
Instruction of Deaf Mutes. 1880-- An international convention
of educators of the deaf met in Milan, Italy. They outlawed
the use of sign language for educational purposes, despite
the protests of the 5 Americans present. 1880s-- The founding of the
National Deaf-Mute College (and other schools for the deaf)
represented a major step in the legitimization of sign
language as an accepted means of communication. However,
despite Gallaudet’s work, sign was deemed inappropriate
and was replaced by the oral method (speaking and
lip-reading). Alexander Graham Bell was one of the oral
method's biggest proponents, claiming that deaf people
should not be allowed to marry other deaf or hearing
impaired persons, as their genes would perpetuate deafness.
This marked the beginning of a period commonly known as the
"Dark Ages", when sign language was not taught, and was
considered inappropriate. 1950s-- William Stokoe, a
professor at Gallaudet University became interested in the
use of sign language among students. His book, Sign
Language Structure, examined sign language and showed
that it stands up to the "tests" of a language, with its own
grammar, sentance structure, etc. Sign finally began to
reemerge as a legitimate language. 1960s-- Total Communication, the
idea that deaf students can learn from a combination of sign
language and oral methods (speech and lip-reading) emerged
and was embraced as a new philosophy of teaching. 1967-- The
National Theatre of the Deaf was founded. Performances
include both speaking and signing actors, who work together
to perform for mixed deaf and hearing audiences. 1980-- Closed Captioning was
available for the first time on television.
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