History of ASL

1
History of ASL

• How did ASL get started?
• Who is responsible for it's beginnings here in
  America?
• Is signing only an American language?
• 
  
  
  
• The history of this rich language is important
  because it helps us know the struggles of a
  people to become a culture.

2
History of ASL

• Prior to 1648, there was no formal attempt to
  educate deaf students. John Bulmer wrote a book
  in 1648 supporting the education of the deaf..
  There were a few attempts to educate the deaf
  within the families structure where they lived
  but not in a formal educational setting.
• In Italy and France, during the 1770's,
  Standardized Sign Language began to be developed
  to educate the deaf. SSL (Standardized Sign
  Language) .

3
History of ASL

• The Paris School for the Deaf was founded in 1755
  by the Abbe de l'Epee.
• .

Abbe de l'Epee
4
History of ASL

• Six years later, in 1760, Thomas Braidwood
  opened 'Braidwoods Academy' in Edinburgh, the
  first school for the Deaf in Britain.

Thomas Braidwood
5
History of ASL

• The first public school for the deaf in any land,
  however, was opened at Leipsic in 1778. The vocal
  system of instruction was early introduced into
  this school. In 1792, Braidwood opened the
  London Asylum, the first public English school
  for the deaf.

London Asylum
6
History of ASL

• 23 years later, in 1783, Thomas Braidwood moved
  with his family to London and established a
  private school, the Braidwood Academy for the
  Deaf and Dumb in Grove House, off Mare Street,
  Hackney.

Braidwood Academy for the Deaf and Dumb
7
History of ASL

• In 1792, Braidwood's kinsman, Joseph Watson was
  trained as a teacher of the Deaf under Thomas
  Braidwood and he eventually left to become the
  first headmaster of the first public school for
  the Deaf in Britain, the London Asylum for the
  Deaf and Dumb in Bermondsey.In 1806, Thomas
  died at Hackney, London, and his daughter
  Isabella continued running the school.
• 
  
  In 1811 in both
  New York and Virginia, a grandson of Braidwood
  made unsuccessful attempts to establish schools
  for the deaf.

8
History of ASL

• Early 1800, Congregationalist church member, Rev.
  Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet met a young deaf girl
  named Alice.
  At the age of two years, Alice
  become ill with "spotted fever" (cerebra-spinal
  meningitis). This illness took her hearing and
  later she lost her speech as well..
  
  Gallaudet was successful in teaching her a
  few words.

Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
9
History of ASL

• Dr. Mason Cogswell, father of Alice, encouraged
  Thomas Gallaudet to open a school for the deaf.

Dr. Mason Cogswell
10
History of ASL

• In 1792, Braidwood's kinsman, Joseph Watson was
  trained as a teacher of the Deaf under Thomas
  Braidwood and he eventually left to become the
  first headmaster of the first public school for
  the Deaf in Britain, the London Asylum for the
  Deaf and Dumb in Bermondsey.In 1806, Thomas
  died at Hackney, London, and his daughter
  Isabella continued running the school.
• In 1811 in both New York and Virginia, a grandson
  of Braidwood made unsuccessful attempts to
  establish schools for the deaf.

11
History of ASL

• It took until 2003 for Braidwood's early use of a
  form of sign language, the combined system, the
  forerunner of British Sign Language, to be
  recognized as a language in its own
  right.Braidwood's combined system is known
  among British Deaf historians as the Braidwoodian
  Method.

12
History of ASL

• Thomas Gallaudet met Sicard, Director of the
  Paris School for the Deaf who was touring with 2
  deaf students, Jean Massieu, and Laurent Clerc.
  They shared their methods with Gallaudet.

Abbe Roch Sicard
13
History of ASL

• In 1817 Laurent Clerc returned with
• Gallaudet to Hartford, Connecticut
• and established "American Asylum for the
  Education of the Deaf and Dumb".

Laurent Clerc
14
History of ASL

• The American Asylum for the Education of the
  Deaf and Dumb (now the American School for the
  Deaf) was established as a residential school.
  The school created a linguistic community of Deaf
  people communicating in a visual mode. Laurent
  Clerc had taught French Sign Language (FSL) to
  Gallaudet, and together they provided linguistic
  role models for the students

"A Brief Cultural History of Deaf America" --
from A Study of American Deaf Folklore by Susan
Rutherford, Ph.D. Burtonsville, MD Linstock
Press, 1993. p.3
15
History of ASL

• In 1819 through an act of Congress, a land
  grant which yielded an endowment amounting to
  upwards of 350,000was given to the school to
  develop the deaf educational system

16
History of ASL

• The success of Gallaudet's experiment at
  Hartford led to the admission there of pupils
  supported by legislative appropriations, from the
  other New England States, from South Carolina and
  Georgia. Dr. Gallaudet married one of his deaf
  pupils, Sophia Fowler, and their sons have
  rendered services of untold value to the nation.

Gallaudet's family at the President's home
Sophia Fowler Gallaudet
17
History of ASL

• In 1864, Abraham Lincoln signed a charter
  authorizing the conferring of college degrees by
  the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of
  the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, which eventually
  became Gallaudet University.
• 
  
  
  Gallaudet's dream had become a
  reality.

Gallaudet University
18
History of ASL
In the 18th century on Martha's Vineyard island
the birth rate of Deaf People were abnormally
high believed to be the result of the
founder-effect. Ranging from 1 in every 155 to 1
in every 25 where the normal birth rate of Deaf
people should be 1 in every 5000. It's
believed that the Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
(MVSL) did not play a significant role on
American Sign Language.
19
History of ASL

• As of 1952 the last of the Vineyard's signers had
  died.
• "For Hearing People Only" by Matthew S. Moore and
  Linda Levitan. Rochester, New York Deaf Life
  Press, 1993. pp.

20
History of ASL

• Gallaudet University hired hearing presidents
  because of the belief that the Deaf were
  handicapped.

21
History of ASL

• In the spring of 1988, the students at Gallaudet
  protested the hiring of a hearing president.
  Because of the students the first Deaf president
  I. King Jordan was hired.

I. King Jordan
22
History of ASL

• Many residential schools refused to allow
  signed language in the classroom, believing that
  the deaf would be better off learning to oralize
  their words.
• Even when signs were not permitted in the
  classroom, the children of Deaf parents, as well
  as Deaf teachers and staff, would secretly pass
  on the language to other students

23
History of ASL

• Many well-meaning but misguided educators,
  believing that the only way for deaf people to
  fit into the hearing world is through speech and
  lipreading, have insisted that deaf children try
  to learn to speak English. Some have even gone so
  far as to tie down deaf children's hands to
  prevent them from signing.
• Source Signing Naturally, Lentz, Mikos, and
  Smith, DawnSign Press 1988, San Diego, California

24
History of ASL

• ASL was included for the first time in the
  Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1960 as an
  autonomous language.

25
History of ASL

• ASL is NOT universal. It is, however, used in
  some countries like
• The Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, Chad, Zaire,
  Central African Republic, Canada, Hong Kong
  Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoireand,
  Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar, Denin, Togo,
  Singapore, Zimbabwe, and others, but ASL is not a
  universal language.

26
Famous Deaf

• American Sign Language is the 3rd most-used
  language in the United States, trailing only to
  spoken English and Spanish.

27
Famous Deaf

• Heather Whitestone Miss America 1995
• Laura Redden Searing(8/5/18408/10/1923)Author
  and poet
• Nellie Zabel Willhite18921991 Pilot
• Luther Haden Dummy Taylor(2/21/18758/22/1958)
  Major League Pitcher
• Juliette Gordon Low(10/31/18601/18/1927)
  Founder of the Girl Scouts
• Robert H. Weitbrecht(4/11/19205/19/1983)Physicis
  t and inventor

Heather Whitestone
28
Famous Deaf

• Marlee Beth Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an
  Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning
  American actress who participated in Dancing with
  the Stars
  

Marlee Beth Matlin