American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual language used by the deaf and hard-of-hearing community in the United States and parts of Canada. It is a complete, natural language with its own grammar and syntax, and is not simply a visual representation of spoken English.

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Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell were both instrumental in the development of American Sign Language (ASL). Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was a hearing educator who founded the first school for the deaf in the United States. In 1815, he met a young deaf girl named Alice Cogswell and was inspired to dedicate his life to educating the deaf. He traveled to Europe to learn about different methods of deaf education and met French educator Laurent Clerc, who agreed to accompany him back to the United States and help him establish a school for the deaf. Gallaudet and Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817, which was the first school for the deaf in America.