Eva B. Dicker-Eiseman from Milwaukee, WI in tracing the origins of sign language, says “As an educator of the Deaf and a person who has studied Sign Language for many years and for whom Sign Language was a first language (as a Jewish CODA) I want to bring your attention to one fact. Sign language was not invented by a priest.

It was generated by Deaf individuals themselves who found themselves in a group together in a monastery under the direction of the Abbe de Ueppe in France. It grew out of a need for these individuals to communicate with each other about daily needs and obviously some of those needs were Church oriented, thus the beginning of some signs that had to do with Church practices and particularly Christian practices. Until that time Deaf individuals, particularly children, received no formal education, except for wealthy families where children were educated one to one by private tutors and most of this education was executed without signs.”