Vice President
Deirdre Schlehofer
Rochester Institute of Technology dxsnss @ rit . edu
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A while back , I stumbled across a picture of
Alexander Graham Bell , Helen Keller , and Anne Sullivan in
Chautauqua , New York in 1894 . Best known as the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen , Anne was
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standing over Helen and Bell who were sitting next to each | ||
Recording Secretary /
Newsletter Editor
Andrew P . J . Byrne
Framingham State University abyrne @ framingham . edu
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other . Helen , the first deaf-blind individual to earn a bachelor of arts degree , placed her right hand over Bell ’ s right hand to feel the letters of the one-handed American manual alphabet being produced . What is interesting about the picture ( see page 3 ) is that Bell appeared to be able to use the manual alphabet . It is well-known that Bell used the |
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two-handed British manual alphabet to communicate with | ||
Treasurer
Harvey Nathanson
Austin Community College harvey . nathanson @ austincc . edu
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his mother who was hard of hearing . I could not help but wonder if he was familiar with signed language in addition to fingerspelling . This prompted me to dig even further into
Bell ’ s knowledge and use of signed language .
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According to Van Cleve and Crouch ( 1989 ), the | ||
Membership Director |
Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of |
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Ron Fenicle |
Deaf and Dumb Persons ( now known as the American |
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ronfenicle @ gmail . com |
School for the Deaf or ASD ) in Hartford invited Bell to the |
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school in the spring of 1872 to teach Visible Speech . While | ||
SASL Journal
Editor-in-Chief
Jody H . Cripps
Towson University jcripps @ towson . edu
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residing there for two months , he “ learned enough American
Sign Language [ ASL ] to use it with some ease ” ( p . 117 ).
Lane ( 1984 ) noted , “ At commencement , he talked to the graduating class in sign ” ( p . 349 ). However , Lane presented a somewhat different story . Before arriving in Hartford , Bell
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had already begun learning ASL in Boston , Massachusetts | ||
with several deaf adults , especially William Chamberlain , a | ||
brilliant graduate of ASD and one of the founders of the | ||
Members-at-Large |
New England Gallaudet Association . |
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Patrick Boudreault
Gallaudet University patrick . boudreault @ gallaudet . edu
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What convinced me that Bell knew ASL is the book that I read : The Deaf Mute Howls by Albert Ballin ( originally published in 1930 and re-published by Gallaudet University
Press in 1998 ; see the next page for the book cover ). Ballin
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Russell Rosen |
was deaf and born to deaf parents and attended the New |
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CUNY – Staten Island russell . rosen @ csi . cuny . edu |
York School for the Deaf ( Fanwood ) for a number of years .
He was heavily involved in the deaf community as a painter ,
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Gabriel Arellano
Georgetown University ga430 @ georgetown . edu
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an American representative to the 1889 World Congress of the Deaf in Paris , a film actor , a writer , and a storyteller
( Lang & Meath-Lang , 1995 ). He was a native signer in every
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right . | ||
( Continue on page 3 ) |
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The Power of ASL |
2 |
Winter 2016 – Issue 4 |