The authors seem rather touchy on the misconception of the origin of FSL. They seem to regard the Abbe de l'Epee as a well-meaning little man who completely missed the point of the French deaf community's language. They are thankful that he recognized that signing was the best way for the deaf to communicate, but seem rather irked by his meddlesome grammar additions.
I find it interesting that New Zealand and Australia use BSL when they are quite some distance away from the British Isles and, based on its description, BSL seems cumbersome when compared to ASL, FSL, and Spanish finger spelling. I wonder why BSL had such opposition in the 1900s. They mention repeatedly the evils of the Oralism method and how physical punishments were often used with such methods. I have mixed feelings about Oralism. I understand their opposition to a method that represses a preferred method, as Oralism repressed signing, but what if signing was never repressed and the two systems were simply two peacefully co-existing options? I have met three deaf individuals who read lips and speak English when with people who cannot communicate with ASL and who use ASL when with people who understand it, and they seem to be relatively happy with their lot in life. If deaf individuals are already bilingual in that they sign with ASL and read and write with English, it seems like knowing both ASL and Oralism would be quite useful and practical in life, just as my class learning ASL will be useful and practical in life. Everyone likes to be reached out to, especially when it is apparent that the reaching out took effort. When I have come across deaf individuals who could speak English, I was impressed and thought things along the lines of "wow, that's dedication" just as the deaf communities of both the U.S. and England cherished Princess Diana for going out of her way to learn to communicate in BSL.
I can understand how you think the authors may be exaggerating a bit. But in my own personal experience, I have had someone make a comment to me about how ASL and braille are the same. Crazy, I know. Also,I find it interesting that a lot of people believe that ASL is simply English on the hands.
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