When did Sign Language begin? Who taught the deaf people Sign Language? How did Sign Language begin in America? These questions and others have interest me into doing a research on American Sign Language History. In this paper I will be answering all of those questions.

American Sign Language (ASL) is the visual or gestural language which is the primary means of communication of deaf people in America and parts of Canada. Current estimates are that between 100,000 and 500,000 people use ASL (Gannon, 1981). This includes native signers who have learned ASL as their first language from deaf parents, hearing children of deaf parents who also learned ASL as their native language, and fluent signers who have learned ASL from deaf people. Furthermore, this gesture has been used for communication between groups of different languages and cultures. Until the 16th century, the deaf people were considered uneducable. They were scorned, put aside, and even feared. They were thought o......

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Title: American Sign Language
Approximate Word Count: 933
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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