Communication is the basis of everyone's lives. Without communication we would not be able to do anything. We would not be able to work together and make this world what is today, we would not be able to have families, and we would not be able survive. Communication is our means of survival. There are many types of communication; written, oral, and body language. Further more body language can be used as a type of Sign Language. In this paper I will explain the history of Sign Language and explain Helen Keller's effect on the world and how she helped make Sign Language an actual language, and the reactions of the deaf people trying to make it easier for them to get along in this world. .
In America today the Sign Language that is used by deaf people is a mix of signs brought from France in the early 19th century. A man named Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet taught a girl named Alice Cogsewell communication as an experiment. As a result of his success he was send abroad to study methods of Sign Language that was being used in England. In London Dr. Gallaudet got to meet the owner of the Signing school in Paris, Abbe Sicard. The school had been founded by a man named Abbe de L"Epee in 1755. Abbe was known as the inventor of French Sign Language. He also published a book explaining both his sign system and his method of teaching the deaf. After Gallaudet had spent many months studying he return to America and brought another deaf instructor, Laurent Clerc, along with him. Many years later Gallaudet had started many schools in the United States. The first school was established in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817. Gallaudet passed his dream down to his son that established Gallaudet College, the first only college for the deaf. It is located in Washington and the charter for the school was signed in 1864 by President Abraham Lincoln. .
The hand positions to represent letters are a vital and historical element of manual communication.