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.