This past Friday was a history lesson for all. In the Forum of the Culp Center, history teacher Michael Depew gave a lecture on the history of sign language.
The Forum was packed with students who wished to learn the history of sign language and students who knew sign language. “It was a very good crowd,” Depew said after the lecture was over. “I was pleased.”
Before the lecture began, Depew with an interpreter, went around asking students (who didn’t know sign language) questions in sign language. Students laughed and looked around dumbfounded not knowing what to do.
Depew’s interpreter explained to the students what he was asking and student’s laughed at the revelation. It was then expressed that 1 percent of the population is deaf. That may not seem like a lot, but think about this: for every 1 million people, 10,000 of those million would be deaf. That is an astounding result.
Depew went on to talk about sign language, its misconceptions and its history. Stating that sign language is not “only brute gestures” or “merely English without audio.”
The American history of sign language began in France with a man named Thomas H. Gallaudet. He went to Europe to study methods of teaching for the deaf.
He went to a British school where they taught oral and speech reading. Gallaudet, not happy with that, went to a French school where they taught speech reading and a form of language that spoke with their hands, sign language.
While at the school, Gallaudet met Laurent Clerc, who was also deaf. Together they came back to America and formed the American Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, Conn.
At the time, asylum indicated residence and dumb meant not being able to speak. From there sign language began in the United States. As sign language took off, interpreters became part of the language.
Students would need someone to hear for them while they were writing or doing other tasks that would draw their attention from the speaker. Depew said of the interpreter and the student: “It’s really a sense of trust.”
“Yeah, everybody is interested,” Depew said when asked if he thought students were interested in sign language. “Everyone who has seen an interpreter in their class is interested. We’re just trying to get the word out.”
Starting after the fall break ETSU is providing three classes for students who may be interested in learning sign language. All the classes are on Tuesdays on the following dates: Oct. 26, Nov. 2 and Nov. 9. The classes are from 4 to 5 p.m. in Room 120 of Rogers-Stout Hall.
For more information call the Disability Services office at 439-8346.

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