Fact: American Sign language is similar to French Sign Language. Although American and Britain’s written language is the same. The sign language is remarkably different.
Sign Language Timeline
1760- Father Charles-Michel De L’Eppe started a deaf school in France.
1771- First free public school for the deaf was established by Charles-Michel de L’Eppe
1864- President Abraham Lincoln signed a law establishing the National Deaf Mute College in Washington, D.C
1871- The American School for the Deaf was founded by Laurent Clerc, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Mason Cogswell in Hartford, Connecticut
1880- Educators in Milan, Italy passed a resolution banning sign language in schools.
1880- Deaf people began to fight for their language thus establishing the National Association of the Deaf
1893- Agatha Tiel Hanson was he first deaf woman to graduate from Gallaudet with a four-year degree.
1894- The football huddle was invented by Gallaudet University football team to keep their opponents from eavesdropping on the quarterback in American Sign Language.
1972- The first text on teaching ASL was published
Youtube American Sign Language
Baby Sign Language Resources
Baby Sign Language: 21 words to sign and know