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As published in Odyssey, Fall 2003
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When Fingerspelling Replaced Signs
Remembering an Encounter with Visible English

By MJ Bienvenu

At my graduation from the Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD), I used no signs at all. I fingerspelled my entire valedictorian speech. There were two supportive fingerspellers who relayed my speech through their fingers on the sides of the audience. Unfortunately, my parents and sisters, also deaf, sat in the eighth row, and they had difficulty seeing me. One of my sisters took it upon herself to walk to the front. She alone of all my family was close enough to me to understand my words as I fingerspelled them, and she stood and watched the whole speech.

The fingerspelled speech was a result of a communication method foisted on LSD in 1962 by Mr. Edward Scouten, who had become our principal. The system was called “Visible English.” At LSD, Visible English meant fingerspelling everything and all the time to communicate. Fingerspelling was partly an aid to lipreading so we would fingerspell at neck level and mouth each word as we said it. The magic word was “English,” and everyone thought it was a good idea. I am not sure what method, if any, the school used prior to that. I remember that we signed in classrooms and had training in speech. Although I was only 10 years old, I remember vividly how excited both deaf and non-deaf teachers were about the transition from signing to Visible English. Teachers—hearing and deaf—were excited at the potential of this communication method, at least in the beginning.

Later as our use of fingerspelling became strictly enforced, we realized that Visible English was difficult. Most non-deaf teachers could not fingerspell intelligibly and we missed many letters in the words they spelled. Even for those teachers we could understand, watching constant fingerspelling was such a strain on our eyes.

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Artist Mary Thornley depicts two teenagers in the intimacy of shared and easy communication. Sara and Garrett: Two Students from MSSD oil on canvas 2000

They kept saying it was for the sake of learning and improving our English skills. At the beginning, we thought it was actually happening. There seemed to be scores of little children fingerspelling and they were adorable.

In reality, there were not the numbers initially imagined and those who were proficient had parents who were deaf and had already acquired American Sign Language, including the skills for using and understanding fingerspelled words. The school reveled in our success anyway, calling on us—the children of deaf parents—repeatedly.

We fingerspelled everything and everywhere, including recreation rooms, the cafeteria, and the playground. As part of Visible English, Mr. Scouten saw to it that everything on campus got a printed label. Every step on campus was painted with the word “STEP” and every wall with the word “WALL.” The sidewalk was painted “SIDEWALK” and water faucets outside on brick walls were painted “WATER FAUCET.” Pencil sharpeners were taped “PENCIL SHARPENER” and every window sill was painted “WINDOW SILL.” I remember the radiator. Its painted word peeled and was repainted—again and again.

I recall one time when my mother asked if I could come back to school late from my Christmas holidays in New York and Washington, D.C. Mr. Scouten looked at me for a while and finally asked me to fingerspell the names of things to which he pointed. I did and he said that I was granted permission. I wasn’t asked to say anything in full sentences, just to fingerspell items. Many of my peers were able to fingerspell words, but many were not able to fingerspell whole sentences.

When we played sports, coaches were forced to fingerspell everything, too. Eventually they gave up. It was too cumbersome and often they were too far away for players to understand their handshapes. Bingo games were fingerspelled, including the numbers. Students began to complain. Some deaf teachers closed doors and used American Sign Language.

My experience with Visible English was different from that of most of my classmates who came from homes where parents were non-deaf. My parents are deaf and I am a native signer. I had a linguistic background my classmates could only envy, as I had acquired English before I started school. My parents gave me books to read and I was able to write my name at age five. I did not board at the school. I was a day student, so I had constant contact with American Sign Language and written English at home throughout my school years.

My father did use fingerspelling. He fingerspelled words in context, helping me to acquire the fingerspelled words. I do not give any credit to the Visible English of LSD for my English acquisition. Rather, I credit a lucky and loving home, where I naturally acquired American Sign Language and was exposed to books at an early age.

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Fingerspelling is better than the contrived sign systems that came later in an attempt to teach English. It is better for students to see nouns in their natural fingerspelled form than invented signs. Take, for example, the months of the year. These are usually fingerspelled and have become lexicalized signs, that is signs that originated in fingerspelling and still look like fingerspelling but that function as a single “word” rather than as separate “letters.” We don’t need unnatural substitutes. But to replace every sign with fingerspelling and force it on every school child is absurd. It is neither effective—teachers were not able to do it—nor is it developmentally appropriate.

When Visible English did not work at LSD, the administration became punitive. Many students struggled. After Mr. Scouten left the school, parents protested and marched until a Total Communication philosophy was adopted in 1975.

As is too often the case for deaf children everywhere, the students at LSD during my time were guinea pigs. It would have been better, I think, if we had been treated instead as human beings and allowed to use the language that came naturally, including its fingerspelling component.