Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-195) and index.

"Carol Padden and Tom Humphries show how the nineteenth-century schools for the deaf, with their denigration of sign language and their insistence on oralist teaching, shaped the lives of Deaf people for generations to come. They describe how Deaf culture and art thrived in mid-twentieth century Deaf clubs and Deaf theater, and they profile controversial contemporary technologies." "Most triumphant is the story of the survival of the rich and complex American Sign Language, long misunderstood but finally recognized by a hearing world that could not conceive of language in a form other than speech."--Jacket

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