Council Publishes Sign Language Handbook
Diocesan Press Service. August 3, 1966 [45-18]
"The Language of Signs: A Handbook for Manual Communication With the Deaf," was published Aug. 1 by Executive Council.
The handbook contains the same signs, shown in the same order, as the film, "The Sign Language of the Deaf," and may be used independently, or with the film.
For the first time, all the signs included have been described in full, so they may be easily understood by those who have had little or no previous experience with the sign language.
Compiled by Anne Davis, a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, the new handbook contains over 600 words and 800 photographs which provide a basic, working vocabulary, plus a special section for words commonly used in religious services.
The handbook will be useful to instructors of manual communication and their students; to Federal employees who offer guidance to the deaf in welfare offices, in vocational rehabilitation work and in counseling; to churches and synagogues who include the deaf among their congregations; to the deaf themselves, and to their parents, relatives and friends.
The author, Miss Davis, was for seven years an instructor at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick, and will shortly join the faculty of the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. She holds an M. A. degree in special education from the University of Virginia and did her graduate work in the education of the deaf at Gallaudet College in Washington, D. C.