Deaf People Before Deaf Schools - An Open Letter to Helen Scarlet Fever
Deaf People Before Deaf Schools An Open Letter to Helen Scarlet Fever Hi, Helen Scarlet Fever! Wibbly here. I have been posting a series of articles on this subreddit discussing sign language writing systems, and in my most recent part I briefly covered Deaf/Sign-Language history. It wasn't a comprehensive overview - just enough to understand how we got to the point we did in recognising the grammar of sign language. It is based on the evidence we have and the mainstream view of sign language development. In it I said: Sign languages have always been around, but rarely is their history written down as Deaf people were mostly poor and illiterate - as were most people outside of the elite of society. Sporadic accounts tell of those who use their hands to talk from across the world back to the dawn of civilisation. Socrates even mentioned communication by signing amongst deaf people, albeit briefly. In your (Helen's) post, which was a long-form response , you challe...
