In 1817, American Thomas Gallaudet studied at the Royal Institute for the Deaf in Paris, and persuaded his deaf teacher, Laurent Clerc, to come from France to help found the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Clerk began learning English on the 55 day ocean voyage to the United States. The story of Clerc's inspiring influence as a language learner and language teacher offers material for lessons on a variety of topics in English Language Arts, History and Social Studies, and Civics -- the greater inclusion of people of all abilities in civic life owes much to the determination of individuals to create opportunities that were missing. 

This primary source set places Laurent Clerc's role in developing American Sign Language in context with sources showing an early film of sign language, with links to correspondence with Alexander Graham Bell (an opponent of sign language use). In addition to resources to explore the stigma that has sometimes accompanied use of other languages, there are also teaching notes about historical vocabulary ("deaf and dumb") and exploration of negatively charged words and how to handle them in the classroom and beyond.