Focuses on the early career of the Deaf intellectual, Ferdinand Berthier. Berthier was a pioneer for deaf education and the use of sign language in the 1820s and 1830s. (Author/VWL)

Examines how Pierre Desloges--a deaf person who was interested in the aptness of "natural signs" to express complex concepts and who highlighted the community aspect of communication--described and categorized signs used by the Deaf community in Paris in 1779. Presents additional sources of information on communication of deaf people.…

The story of the Abbe de l'Epee's "methodical signs" is best known as a key moment in Deaf history. However, at the time of the French Revolution this story served a larger political function. The example of de l'Epee's deaf students, and their seemingly miraculous command of ideas learned through gestural signs, helped the French…

Traces the history of the advances and setbacks experienced by proponents of sign language in France and in the United States from the 18th century to the present. (AM)