Written By: Paula Akpan
Some disabilities are more immediately apparent than others, particularly if the person uses an aid such as a wheelchair. Others, however, aren’t as obvious. The Invisible Disabilities Association defines invisible disability as “a physical, mental, or neurological condition that limits a person’s movements, sense, or activities that is invisible to the onlooker.” As a result, not only do people with invisible or less visible disabilities have to make day-to-day adjustments to exist in the world around them, but they must also navigate misconceptions about their condition —including the idea that they aren’t disabled “enough.” Click here to read the rest of the story.
Fact: American Sign language is similar to French Sign Language. Although American and Britain’s written language is the same. The sign language is remarkably different.
Sign Language Timeline
1760- Father Charles-Michel De L’Eppe started a deaf school in France.
1771- First free public school for the deaf was established by Charles-Michel de L’Eppe
1864- President Abraham Lincoln signed a law establishing the National Deaf Mute College in Washington, D.C
1871- The American School for the Deaf was founded by Laurent Clerc, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Mason Cogswell in Hartford, Connecticut
1880- Educators in Milan, Italy passed a resolution banning sign language in schools.
1880- Deaf people began to fight for their language thus establishing the National Association of the Deaf
1893- Agatha Tiel Hanson was he first deaf woman to graduate from Gallaudet with a four-year degree.
1894- The football huddle was invented by Gallaudet University football team to keep their opponents from eavesdropping on the quarterback in American Sign Language.
1972- The first text on teaching ASL was published