Cover next page > title: Seeing Language in Sign : The Work of William C. Stokoe author

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Page from Alzheimer's disease. Ruth Stokoe and the people who use American Sign Language are Bill Stokoe's two great passions.
During the thirty years that he spent teaching and learning at Gallaudet University, Ruth Stokoe cared for their two children and encouraged him when most others thought his research into American Sign Language was absurd, even dangerous. It is indicative of their devotion to each other that during the Deaf President Now Revolution, a revolution sparked in large part by his work, Stokoe did not go to the Gallaudet campus as so many others did. He kept his television on day and night to follow the proceedings, and although he "was certainly therein spirit" he remained at home with Ruth, "where he was needed" During the course of his career at Gallaudet, Bill Stokoe was ridiculed and reviled by many of the people with whom he worked,
both hearing and deafa fact that many would just as soon forget now that he has begun to receive the honor and recognition he so richly deserves. The citation that was presented to Stokoe by the president and the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University when they awarded him an honorary degree on May 14, 1988, lauds him as a "pioneer" who belongs to that small handful of rare individuals who dared to deviate from the beaten trail. At the risk of his professional career he chose to take the turn to new and uncharted pathways.
A scholar of Old and Middle English, his academic odyssey carried him from Cornell University to Wells College, to the
University of Edinburgh, and eventually to Gallaudet as chairman of the English Department. In 1960 he began his controversial studies into the linguistic nature of American Sign Language, a venture which was initially met with scorn,
skepticism, and little support from his colleagues.
In time, his perseverance sparked aflame which reached all corners of the world, brought new insights into how deaf people communicate, opened doors, and created unprecedented waves in international schools of linguistics. He has brought to the sign language of every nation a needed measure of recognition and dignity.
In 1971 Dr. Stokoe became director of the newly estab-

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