Do Not Put Words In My Mouth

 
The Deaf may be mute, but they do have a voice. Although they were so repressed by people like Alexander Graham Bell and the other oralist, throughout the late 1800s and most of the 1900s, by the 1960s, the Deaf finally had their language. They finally had their voice; this came in great part through linguist and author, William C. Stokoe. In an article A True Pioneer, about William Stokoe, Jane Maher writes "Through the 1950s, most educators at Gallaudet College condescendingly considered the signs used by deaf students among themselves as a poor substitute for speech. This all changed, however, starting in 1955 when William C. Stokoe arrived at Gallaudet College (later Gallaudet University) to teach English, specifically Chaucer. for when he was first exposed to deaf people signing, his own education in Old and Middle English triggered a disparate response within him. While most of his colleagues conformed to current conventional theory and dismissed signing as mere mimicry of speech, Stokoe saw something startling, something different; he saw in signing the elements of language." (Gupress)
Stokoe was fascinated with the gestures and signs the Deaf used to communicate. Within the signs and body language, Stokoe recognized "[...]phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics [...]", all the elements of a fully developed language. (Gupress) "Seeing Language in Sign rewards the reader with a rich portrayal of an undaunted advocate who, like a latter-day Galileo, pursued his vision doggedly regardless of relentless antagonism." (Gupress). Throughout his research and his plight, William Stokoe was employed as an educator at Gallaudet University. The first, and only, University for the Deaf.
Eventually, partly because of Stokoe, Gallaudet University (in view of the entire nation) experienced the most successful movement to date, for Deaf or otherwise. Deaf people were completely tired of having hearing people think they know what is best for them, so when in 1988, after a hearing person was elected as President again (and there were a few Deaf people in the running), the entire student body and some staff members, initiated the DPN movement, a milestone in history for the Deaf. When DPN was over, Gallaudet University had their first Deaf president, Dr. I. King Jordan.
American Sign Language continues to thrive these days. It is the primary language used by the Deaf community. Now, "University of Washington researchers are working to ensure that cell phone communication through American Sign Language (ASL) becomes a reality in the United States."(Gale) Wow, think about it...Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone, which he worked so hard on, primarily to help the Deaf and rid them of this "poor substitute for speech" (Gupress), has now progressed to accommodate American Sign Language...a Deaf man’s voice.

Sources:

http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/Stokoecompliments.html

"Sign language on cell phones." A S H A Leader 3 Mar. 2009: 5. Gale Power Search. Web.