American Sign Language (ASL)
If someone is hearing impaired, does that really mean they can't communicate? No!In the United States, many people with hearing
impairments communicate by using American Sign Language, also known as ASL. ASL combines
hand signs, gestures, and facial expressions to create words and sentences. As many as
500,000 people in the U.S. communicate using ASL. Not all ASL users are hearing impaired.
Some are family members, friends, or teachers of people with hearing impairments.
A form of ASL has been used in the U.S. for over
two hundred years. It is the third most widely used language in the U.S., after English
and Spanish.
You might think that modern-day ASL came from
England, but it doesn't. It came from France. England has its own version of signed
language which is very different from ASL. An American who only knows ASL will have a hard
time communicating with someone from England who only knows Modern British Sign Language.
But a person using ASL has a good chance of being able to communicate with a person using
French Sign Language - even if they don't speak French!
People with hearing impairments have been using
signed languages for a very long time. In the 18th century in France, some people did not
think children with hearing impairments should go to school because they thought they
could not learn since they could not speak or hear. A man with a hearing impairment named
Pierre Desloges believed these people were wrong. He wrote a book that described the
signed language used by people with hearing impairments in Paris. This book helped to
change the minds of many people. Soon there were schools in France for children with
hearing impairments. The French students and teachers traveled to the U.S. to show
Americans their ways of teaching. This is why ASL is more like French Sign Language.
If you would like to learn more about ASL:
Check out the fingerspelling chart and learn to fingerspell your name.
Check out the American Manual Alphabet: Described Version for a written description of how to form the fingerspelling signs.
Try solving these fingerspelling mystery riddles
Mysterious Secret Language Mystery Riddles: Text/Graphic version
Mysterious Secret Language Mystery Riddles: Text-only version