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| Sign Language History There are a lot of people who claim to have invented sign language, the French deaf love telling a story that Abbe de l'epee invented sign language. If any one did invent it. It was almost certainly a cave man, with the obvious language difficulties at that time. Im sure that many people like Abbe de l'epee greatly helped push forward sign language. But no one man would have invented it. This would have been a cultural development over many years, used by the deaf, and by hearing people encountering new lands with new people and different languages. It's true to state that even the spoken language has common hand gestures, which even though used. Most do not really take note of. It's more a way of expressing one self, rather than a form of communication. But once you've been signing for a while, looking at the hands and body movements becomes second nature, and you'll be surprised how many hearing people use hand gestures when the talk. So I think its safe to say no one person invented sign language, but a community of deaf people over a long period of time would have. Through a natural development of communication. These signs then branch out over time, just the same as British sign language has spilled out to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Though not exactly the same, many very strong similarities still remain. Sign, just like English, is undergoing constant evolutionary changes to keep up with new words and technology. The earliest recorded written dates for using sign language was here in England in 1644, but earlier accounts state that the Benedictine Monks used signs, to communicate when they took there vows of silence. A book called "Monasterials Indicia" translates to " Monks sign" depicts over 120 signs used, as early as 975 AD. It's quite possible that the idea was derived from the deaf community of that time. It seems that the vows of silence was not an all day event, but more at selected times, such as meal times. As many of the signs depicted are centred around things they needed to ask at those times. Such as different types of food, eating utensils etc. Amazingly some of the signs depicted back then, bear amazing similarities to the ones we use to day. Such as Knife, was cut with your one finger over the other. Fish was move your hand the way a fish swims and moves its tail. The sign for king was to mimic the crown on the head with your palm downward hand. Another amazing fact is that the monks also had sign names for each other! All though on further reflection, it should not be a surprise, as reading and writing back then was very limited. So finger spelling would have been to difficult to practice, I find it hard enough now. It seems though, that a basic core of signs have remained the same or very similar for over 1000 years. Thankfully the deaf people of this century have come together in an unprecedented and almost silent growth. Especially to the vast amount of people in the hearing community. Signing was not seen as a real form of communication, once again hearing community really didn't understand. Thank god the deaf community carried on unrelentlessly until we did. Some of the more established deaf organizations currently here in England are listed below :- BDA British Deaf Association Established in 1890 based in London Changed it's name in 1971, removed the word "dumb". Magazine called "BDN" NDCS National Deaf Children's Society Established in 1944 based in London Magazine called "Talk" RNID Royal National Institute for the Deaf Established in 1911 based in London Changed name twice, firstly in 1961 added the word "Royal" then in 1992 added the word "People". Magazine called "1 in 7" CACDP Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People. Established in 1982 based in Durham Magazine called "Standard" FYD Friends of the Young Deaf Established 1967 based in east Grinsted Reportedly merging with NDCS. Magazine called "Signpost" RDC Redditch Deaf Club Established 1981 based in Redditch  http://www.rod-parrott.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk |