Sign language is very old. From earliest recorded history, gestures have been used for communication between groups of different languages and cultures. The use of the formalized language of signs, however, has been gradual, with the first attempt to do so occurring in the latter part of the 16th century. Until the 16th century, the deaf people were considered uneducable. They were scorned, put aside, and even feared. They were thought to be incapable of reasoning or having ideas. Some even thought the deaf people were possessed of demons. Parents were ashamed of their deaf children and hid them from the public.

Spain - In the 16th century, an Italian physician, Girolamo Cardano, stated that the hearing of words was not necessary for the understanding of ideas. He elaborated a method for teaching the deaf, but it was never put into use. However, his ideas paved the way for dispelling the attitude that the deaf were incapable of learning. It was in Spain that the first successful attempts to educate the deaf were made. A Spanish man, Pedro Ponce de Leon, succeeded in educating deaf children of several noble Spanish families who were heirs of family estates. Apparently, Ponce de Leon taught these children to read and write. The first book containing a manual alphabet was published by Juan Pablo de Bonet in 1620.

Germany - Samuel Heinicke in Germany originated another method to communicate with deaf people. It was the Oral Method of teaching a deaf child through speech and speech-reading. This is known as the German method of teaching deaf children. Sign Language was absolutely forbidden. This started a controversy that persists to this day. What is the best method for teaching deaf children?

America - How did it all begin? Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a minister, became the developer of American education of the deaf, and founder of the first school for the deaf in America. Why did Gallaudet show an interest in deaf people? One day, Thomas H. Gallaudet was approached by Dr. Mason Cogswell, who had a deaf daughter, Alice. Gallaudet was touched and impressed by a 12 year old deaf girl. He dropped his hat to the ground and had her repeat the word "hat." She tried, and then he knew that deaf people could be taught. Dr. Cogswell asked Gallaudet to journey to Europe and study the methods developed there to teach the deaf. He went to England first to study their methods, meaning to combine the best of both methods, oral and manual, but this was unacceptable to the English educators. They wished him to use only their methods.

Sign Language is not using signs for the English Language, but it is a language the same as other foreign languages. Sign Language is the natural language for deaf people. Today it is the fourth most used language in America after English, Spanish and Italian. It is idiomatic, it incorporates pantomimes, it is individualistic and sometimes confusing to a beginner. But it is always interesting, and a student of the language of signs will find it greatly rewarding as he progresses to better communicate with the deaf people. Hearing people are learning the language to become interpreters, teachers and preachers in the deaf world. American Sign Language is a visual language, so it cannot be written, but must be signed and seen. More than 50% of the language is not words, but gestures and movements.

Deaf people are normal people who just have a hearing problem. Their handicap is communicational not mental. Educators have been divided for many years concerning how best to teach deaf people. In the early 70 -80's, I traveled to many schools for the deaf. In some schools I was not permitted to spell or sign, in some schools I could spell words only and not sign, a few permitted me to use sign language. But all the kids openly used signs with each other. In those days, teachers did not use Sign Language, but the Oral method. Later, the deaf people developed their own language of ASL, "American Sign Language." Today the deaf schools use SEE "Signing Exact English" to help the deaf children learn to read better English. This method is slowly changing to ASL which has its own vocabulary, idioms, grammar and syntax -- different from English. This means there are three worlds of the Deaf