Lynsey Johnson
Mrs. Graham
English
13 November 2017
American Sign Language
What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? For most it would be waking to the sound of their alarm clock, but what happens if you cannot hear? What if you are deaf? The purpose of this paper is to explain and define American Sign Language (ASL), how it is used and who uses it. I will inform you about the origins of ASL, how it started the first deaf school. I will discuss people who influence ASL, and how ASL has changed over time, and I will also include interesting facts and weird signs.
American sign language “is a sign language for the deaf in which meaning is conveyed by a system of articulated hand gestures and their placement relative to
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While he was there Gallaudet met Abbe Sicard, a catholic priest and the head of the Institut Royal des Sourds-Muets, or the Royal Institute of Deaf-mutes, in Paris. At Institut Royal des Sourds-Muets they focused more on manual communication, or sign language rather than oral communication. They called their form of Sign Language, Langue des Signes Française, or FSL, translated it just means French Sign Language. FSL interested Gallaudet. It was the way of communication he came all the way to Europe for. Gallaudet spent a few years learning FSL, learning deaf teaching methods, and bonding with the teachers at Institut Royal des …show more content…
The school was called ‘Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons’. When the school first opened it only had seven students in total, those students were “ Alice Cogswell, George Loring, Wilson Whiton, Abigail Dillingham, Otis Waters, John Brewster, and Nancy Orr.”. These students did not just live in Connecticut, they lived in other places too. These students and their families were very excited about this school. It was a wonderful opportunity for all in the deaf culture, it provided a new way to communicate, children could finally speak to their parents. The school wasn't just about learning sign language but the students also learned to speak. Gallaudet’s school created a new life for so many people who thought that they were not going to have a life, just because of something they could not
He met a young idealist from America, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who had gone to Paris to learn the best method of educating the deaf. Gallaudet could spend three months at the Royal Institution. He realized that Clerc had the expertise and "deaf experience" to help him fulfill his mission of found the first school for the deaf in America. Clerc became the assistant. Clerc and Gallaudet rode on the ship. Gallaudet taught Clerc the English language and Clerc taught Gallaudet sign language. They arrived in New York on Aug.9th.
Alice Cogswell was born in 1805 in Hartford, Connecticut. When Alice was only 2 she contracted “spotted fever”, a form of meningitis, which resulted in the loss of her hearing and speech. When she was 9, Alice Cogswell met Thomas Gallaudet, her neighbor. Gallaudet had recently graduated and was hoping to pursue law or ministry, but he quickly grew fond of his young neighbor and began teaching her how to read and spell to the best of his abilities. During the early 1800s in the U.S., it was extremely difficult for deaf people to receive the resources and education they needed. There was no regular form of sign language in America, and deaf educators were extremely scarce. Before
He was very instrumental in developing the French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Francaise, LSF). Epee's sign language class grew from 2 students in the late 1760's, to 6 students, and ten years later there were 30 students in the class. By his death in 1789 there were over 60 students. Thomas Gallaudet, a Protestant minister, was sent by philanthropists to learn the art of teaching Deaf people. The Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opened in April of 1817.Laurent Clerc, a student of Epee, was the head teacher.
Throughout the ITP program and the lower level ASL classes the name Gallaudet is driven into our heads. We know of the University named after him and how he was the man to bring education to the Deaf in America. What was not before mentioned is that there were two Gallaudets. The first thing I learned from this book is the importance of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and his son Edward Miner Gallaudet. I fact I had believed for some time now that E.M. Gallaudet was this extraordinary man that everyone loved and the named a university after him. It is unfortunate that this was not made clearer in the past. Now all I see is a man who took the only path that he knew how to take.
In this article, “The Deaf Body in Public Space,” Rachel Kolb explains how interacting with people who do not understand sign language could be difficult. With her hearing disability she struggled to communicate with her peers. Kolb further explains the different situations she has encountered with people and comments that are made with first intercommunications. Going further she also mentions how she struggles with two languages and two modes of communication.
...at sign language was a last resort if the child did not pick up lip reading and oral communication. Thomas now met someone who signed and spoke and realized that signing is a language in its own and its importance to people who could not hear the oral language. This began their quest to learn sign language and use it with Lynn despite the school and public opinion.
Andrew Foster was a teacher, missionary, and pioneer, He dedicated his life to helping Deaf people learn ASL, and working to assure that Deaf people in Africa had access to education. He was passionate about helping the less fortunate, and felt compelled to go to Africa to do mission work. He stated in some of his writings that he was, “moved by this vast educational and spiritual void among my people.”
At this time in history, those who were deaf were tried at best to be converted into hearing people. Doctors, speech therapists, and audiologists all recommended the use of speaking and lip reading instead of sign language. Since Mark’s grandparents were hearing, they were closer to the parental position instead of his deaf parents. His grandparents provided him with the best possible education he could get, startin...
Thomas Gallaudet was a young healthy man. He had family In Connecticut and in 1814, he decided to go visit them and noticed that his younger siblings where leaving a girl out. He decided to go see why, he found that this young girl, Alice Cogswell was deaf. Him not knowing sign language tried to communicate with her by writing in the dirt. He was wearing a hat and so he decided to point to his hat and write H-A-T. She understood, which the inspired him to teach her more. Alice’s father, Mason Cogswell who was a doctor, paid for Gallaudet to travel to europe. Europe was one of the few places where the idea of a school for deaf children had be established.
Sign language is a natural human language, they have their own vocabularies and sentence structures. Sign language comes into practice wherever Deaf societies come into existence. Sign language is not identical worldwide; every country has its own language and accents; however, these are not the verbal or transcribed languages used by hearing individuals around them.
In Ben Jarashow’s Journey Into the Deaf World, he explained Deaf culture and how it feels to be deaf within the world of those who hear. People who are born deaf have a loss of what is commonly viewed as the most important sense, hearing. This leaves them with four senses instead of five; most important sense now being sight followed by touch. In return, this means that a language must be developed that is based heavily on sight. In the United States, it was not until 1960 that American Sign Language (ASL) was recognized as its own language.
The Deaf President Now movement occurred at Gallaudet University, a deaf university in the United States. The university was established by congress in 1864 to serve the deaf and the hard of hearing. The university can also be used for graduate students who are hearing and want to pursue an education in the language through immersion and a bilingual education. The university plays an important role in the Deaf culture. A main reason it plays such an important role is due to the fact that it was the first deaf university established in the United States. Which makes Gallaudet University the heart of deaf culture.
Both of Philip’s parents attended oral schools. Her father later learned signed through his friends who were active signers. Her mother learned sign language when she met her father at age 18. By the time Marie was born, her mother, age 22, did not sign fluently. When Marie was old enough to go to school her parents endeavored to send her to Clarke School for the Deaf, a very famous oral school. Here she was rejected because she knew how to sign.
The Gallaudet School for the Deaf is a school where deaf and hard of hearing people can go to collage and get a degree. This school has been around for more than 100 years and has quite a history. Through the years, it has been recognized by Presidents and dignitaries.
The Gallaudet School of the Deaf is a University in Washington D.C. The school was first intended for the deaf and the blind. Mason Cogswell had a daughter, Alice, who was deaf. He, like any father, was worried about her education since she could not learn like normal children. Cogswell found out that in England Thomas Braidwood had started a deaf school, so he sent the most trusted person he knew to investigate the school. He convinced his neighbor and member of his intellectual circle, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, to go to England and check it out. Thomas Gallaudet was a known genius. He was a reverend who started Yale University at fourteen. Three years later, at age seventeen, he graduated first in his class. Gallaudet was pleased with his findings and came back with a companion the two started the first school for the deaf, the American School for the Deaf. Alice was the first student and the school still educates today.