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

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didn't just discover a language, he laid the foundation for most of what's happened to empower deaf people and gain them the access they deserve. 2
Fant is not alone in praising Stokoe. Gil Eastman, the deaf actor and playwright, has called him "The Father of Sign Language
Linguistics."3 There is not one publication dealing with American Sign Language written after 1965 that does not contain at least one reference to his work, and in the growing number of American Sign Language courses being taught, the chances are excellent that during the introduction Bill Stokoe's name will be mentioned. Experts in deaf education have compared what
Stokoe did for American Sign Language to the pioneering work of geniuses such as Galileo, Copernicus, and Einstein. "In his quiet, unassuming way" Fant observes, "he unleashed forces that have reshaped our world without meaning to or even realizing that he was doing it."4
Yet little is known about Bill Stokoe. He is always amused by the reaction of people who hear his voice when they dial Linstok
Press, a small publishing company specializing in sign language studies, which until May 1991 he directed from his home:
"They're surprised that I'm even alive, much less speaking to them on the phone It shouldn't be this way. The story of Bill
Stokoe's life and work should be told, not just for those interested in deaf language, culture, and education, but for anyone interested in the way one man used his courage, his brilliance, and his tenacity to help others. Harlan Lane, author of When the
Mind Hears, explains that Stokoe "started a worldwide movement of scholarship, contributed significantly to the liberation of minorities throughout the world, and has students both hearing and deaf now carrying the flame around the globe."6
What follows is an attempt to tell Bill Stokoe's story. Despite his modesty, he is willing that the story be told. (I can hardly believe that someone has lighted on meas a subject" he says His friends and associates are far more enthusiastic. Scores of them were willing to spend enormous time and energy to provide the information needed to tell of his extraordinary life.
I could not talk to the person who knows Bill Stokoe best, however. Ruth Stokoe, his wife of more than fifty years, suffers

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