Cool Deaf US history fact

One of my favorite research rabbit holes to go on is Martha's Vineyard Sign Language.

Hereditary deafness appeared on the island in the 18th century. The ancestry of the people there was traced to a town in England, where another sign language was formed, possibly as a predecessor to MVSL. The first known Deaf settler, Jonathan Lambert, settled in 1694 and married a hearing woman. The island's population of Deaf people grew considerably due to endogamy, and was much larger compared to other places in the country. In Chilmark, around 1 in 25 people were Deaf. In the smaller town of Squibnocket, 1 in 4 people were Deaf!

Deaf people were well integrated in their society, as almost everyone had a deaf relative if they themselves weren't Deaf. They were not considered disabled, since their society had actively chosen not to disable them.

Deaf people on the island lived independent lives. Almost everyone on the island had some degree of MVSL fluency between the late 18th and early 20th centuries.

Chilmark had actually also developed their own sign language. With French sign language influence, it evolved into MVSL.

MVSL began to die out when the American School for the Deaf (first of its kind) opened on the mainland, and new generations of students learned ASL. Deaf people may have returned to the island with fellow Deaf spouses, with non-hereditary causes for their Deafness, and the hereditary Deafness on the island decreased.

Martha's Vineyard began becoming the tourist destination we know it as today, and once deaf-friendly jobs became less accessible to Deaf people. The population grew to took more and more like the mainland.

The last Deaf person born into the MVSL tradition, Katie West, died in 1952. Efforts have been made to revitalize the language, but it is difficult without firsthand experience.

Hope you enjoyed reading this lil summary! There's so many cool subjects to jump to from this topic. And so cool to think that an island we know now for being a rich WASP nest, was once a community. One that valued its Deaf population and has a rich history with its own fkn sign language!