Deaf culture

Sports: a history of the Deaf

See how American football players huddle to plan the next tactic? Huddle was invented by the Gallaudet University football quarter player Paul Hubbard in 1892. Paul played football with the Gallaudet University team from 1892 to 1895.

Where did the American baseball hand signals come from? William Hoy a.k.a. Dummy Hoy (1862-1961) was the first deaf baseball player in Major League Baseball. He mostly played for Cincinnati Reds team. He was credited for the signals for safe and out calls.

Many Deaf national and local sports organizations around the world have long been established. Many Deaf sports events have been taking place at the international, national, and local levels worldwide since long.

The history book of Deaflympics Games
"The History of the Deaflympics Games: 1924-2018" (2nd Edition, 2018) by Rafael Pinkhasov Pinchas.

Deaflympics / Deaf Games

The first World Games of the Deaf (WGD) now known as Deaflympics was held in Paris, France on 10-17 August 1924 with six nations: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Holland, and Poland - participating in the competitions in Athletics, Cycling, Football (Soccer), Shooting and Swimming. (CISS Handbook 1975-85). Gestuno (now International Sign) was used by Deaf officials at this first international sports event.

This video shows an early time at the 5th CISS-ICSD Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark in August 1933.

Deaf Athletes

There have been numerous accomplished Deaf athletes and sports teams. Many of them are mentioned in the "ASL Play, Deaf Culture, more" section in the sports-related entries in the ASL dictionary on this web app/site.

Related posts

The sports cheer called the Bison Song is a tradition at Gallaudet University.

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New to sign language? "Where do I start?" or "How do I start learning sign language?" This ASL Rookie guide lists some selected links to the tutorials for ASL beginners to get started and keep rolling. It may be a useful review for intermediate-level learners and ASL students as well.

Some tutorial pages are a mix of free and premium versions. Access to premium content and links below are available in the PatronPlus subscription. More links/posts will be added from time to time.

Jump-starting

  1. How to fingerspell ABCs
  2. What is and what is not sign language?

Getting started

  1. Benefits of learning sign language
  2. Awareness quiz and Reflections
  3. Basic transcription symbols (glosses)

Language/Culture Fundamentals

  1. What is American Sign Language?
  2. Understanding variations
  3. Introducing audism
  4. Cultural appropriation

Learning first words

  1. Expressing greetings
  2. Introducing oneself and others
  3. Fingerspelling exercise
  4. Expressing goodbyes

ASL Basics

  1. Personal Pronouns
  2. Possessive Pronouns
  3. WH-questions
  4. Yes/no questions
  5. SVO sentence structure
  6. OSV sentence structure
  7. Numbers 1-10+
  8. Basic time: future, present, past

ASL Basics II

  1. Asking what the sign is for a word
  2. Spatial referencing
  3. Verb inflections
  4. Contrastive structure
  5. Listing and Ranking
  6. Classifier basics

Describing shapes

  1. Describing shapes + perspective
  2. Describing shapes + locations
  3. Describing shapes + sizes

Expressing needs and wants

  1. Making commands or requests

Talking about family

  1. Talking about family and pet
  2. Telling age
  3. Telling date

Making basic plans

  1. Review basic tenses
  2. Calendar: DAYS
  3. Calendar: MONTHS
  4. Transportation: basics

Shopping

  1. Telling prices in dollars and cents

Talking about activities

  1. Frequency of time: how often?

Are you able to carry everyday conversations in ASL? Are you a student in the intermediate levels and beyond, who wishes to boost up your signing skills? You've come to the selected tutorial series. (Some premium content are available to PatronPlus membership.)

Language and communication

Sentence types

Non-manual signals

Tenses

Numbers

Classifier classes

Describing

Stories, poems, performance arts, etc. in sign language.

Fables

Fables II

Poem Translations

Stories

Deaf Jokes

Parables

Performance and video arts

Techniques and Devices

This documentation project follows a child's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL, from newborn to age five in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.

Language development

Baby Signing

Toddler Signing

Preschooler and Kinder

From baby to preschooler