when did asl gain recognition as a language what took so long
American Sign Language Up to the 1950s, the predominant method in deaf education was oralism â€“ acquiring oral language comprehension and production.[19] Linguists did not consider sign language to be true "language", but rather something inferior.[19] Recognition of the legitimacy of ASL was achieved by William Stokoe, a linguist who arrived at Gallaudet University in 1955 when this was still the dominant assumption.[19] Aided by the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Stokoe argued for manualism, the use of sign language in deaf education.[19][20] Stokoe noted that sign language shares the important features that oral languages have as a means of communication, and even devised a transcription system for ASL.[19] In doing so, Stokoe revolutionized both deaf education and linguistics.[19] In the 1960s, ASL was sometimes referred to as "Ameslan", but this term is now considered obsolete.[21]