Published: A Brief History of American Sign Language

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Short History On Fencing In America

Jane K. Fernandes is a numerous-awards-winning CEO and President of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. At Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Jane K. Fernandes was an NCAA Division III fencer and team captain in her senior year. Olympic epée fencer, Ralph Spinella, was her coach. At that time, women were permitted to fence with foils only.

In 1888, the Amateur Athletic Union included fencing as one of its championship sports. This event marked the start of proper fencing in the United States. Members of the New York Athletic Club, H.K Bloodgood, W.T. Lawson, and Eugine Higgins banded together to persuade the Amateur Athletic Union to add fencing.

The first fencing championship was underwhelming. The Amateur Athletic Union joined the bouts with boxing and wrestling. Both sports whose spectators didn’t much enjoy the interruptions the bouts brought to their entertainment. However, the first champions were Higgins for swords, Bloodgood for the sabers, and Lawson for foils. Later in 1891, the Amateur Fencers League of America was founded. The League made a fencing rulebook that same year, and they nurtured the sport deliberately to thrive on the continent.

Published: The Use Of Symbols in The Old Man And The Sea

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Published: Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy

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Common American Sign Language Myths

As of August 2021, Jane K. Fernandes serves as the president of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Born deaf, Jane K. Fernandes is a member of various disability awareness boards across the United States. She is bilingual and communicates in both American Sign Language and spoken English.

Because many people in the hearing community don’t know how to speak American Sign Language (ASL), there are many misconceptions about it. One of the most prevalent is that ASL is universal. While some countries have embraced ASL, it doesn’t mean that all countries that speak English use ASL too. ASL is most similar to French Sign Language (FSL) since Laurent Clerc, a Deaf French man, came to America in the 19th century with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. The two made formal presentations at most major cities in which Clerc's French Sign Language was the primary language while Gallaudet interpreted in English for hearing people..Participants, many of whom were deaf Americans, were fascinated by his different signs and grammar, and copied some of them, spreading French Sign Language throughout the country. French Sign Language had a strong influence on the development of ASL. Therefore, people familiar with ASL can communicate more easily with those who know FSL.

Even though it is often mistaken for shorthand, ASL is a natural language with its own structure, vocabulary, and grammar. Just with learning any natural language, many years of immersion is how one can master it. Typically, completing a few classes in ASL is not enough to communicate comprehensively. Getting familiar with the deaf community and practicing ASL as a way of life is the only way to perfect it.