History of Sign Language

While signed languages have seemed to appear in recent times, they have been around for thousands of years. The earliest writing about sign language is from the fifth century BC, in Plato's Cratylus, where Socrates says: "If we hadn't a voice or a tongue, and wanted to express things to one another, wouldn't we try to make signs by moving our hands, head, and the rest of our body, just as dumb people do at present?".

In various times and societies throughout the world, Deaf people and their signed languages have been prominent and given important roles. First Nations people in North America used sign language (Plains Indian Sign Language) to communicate across tribes. Our own First Nations People have signed languages that are used both within their own community, as well as signed languages for trading and communication across language communities. In the Turkish Ottoman court, Deaf people were sought after as they were seen as trustworthy, and their sign language was shared and used by other members of the court. In France during the Revolution, Deaf people were asked about the 'true meaning' of words as their signed language was seen as more 'pure' than the spoken word.

However, Deaf people and signed languages have also been seen as defective, particularly in societies that idolised speech and assumed that speech = language = intelligence. This misconception lead to traumatic and oppressive experiences culminating in the 'Milan Conference' in 1880, in which the use of signed languages was banned at the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf.

The impact of the Milan Conference cannot be overstated. Deaf teachers lost their jobs, and Deaf children were punished for using sign language. For most of the 20th century, the stigma associated with using signed languages and the focus on oralism (use of speech), lead to a marked decline in the educational standards and therefore employment opportunities for Deaf people. Deaf children had their hands caned or tied behind their back for signing, and soap put in their mouths for not correctly speaking the words they were unable to hear. The use of signed language still continued but was associated with those children who 'failed' at oralism, further stigmatising and associating use of sign language with lower intelligence.

The Deaf Community, boosted by Deaf families with generations of Deaf knowledge, proved resilient in the face of this oppression and stigmatisation. Use of signed language may have gone underground during the 1900's but it was still alive, and finally research in the 1960s on American Sign Language, 1970's on British Sign Language, and 1980's on Auslan, proved that signed languages were just as valid and sophisticated as spoken languages.

Research into Auslan was initially conducted by Dr Trevor Johnston, a linguist from a Deaf family. He worked with many Deaf people to formally publish the first dictionary, an Auslan language corpus, a sign-bank (an online dictionary), and the first linguistic text book with his colleague Adam Schembri.

Since then, signed languages have undergone a revival, with policies and institutions changing their stance to include and support the use of signed languages in many countries around the world. Finally, 130 years after the Milan Conference, in 2010 at the 21st International Congress on the Education of the Deaf, the 1880 ban was rejected and an apology made by the governing body, recognising the damaging ramifications that occurred worldwide as a result of the ban.