The history of sign language unveiled

The history of sign language is littered with shocking events. At several points in history, some not long ago, deaf people were strongly oppressed. At one point, they were even denied their basic rights. How their language, sign language, was treated during these oppressive times is directly related to why the deaf place such a high value on sign language today.

The first person to make a claim about deaf people was Aristotle. He theorized that people are only able to learn by hearing spoken words. Deaf people, then, were seen as unable to be educated.

Deaf people were denied their basic rights because of this claim. They weren´t allowed to marry or own property. The law actually labeled them as "non-persons."

During the Renaissance in Europe, the claim was finally challenged. After 2,000 years of believing that deaf people couldn´t be educated, scholars made their first attempts to educate deaf people. This point in the Deaf history was the beginning of signed language development.

Read more here.

Date: 11 Nov 2008