A thread on ASL Day #ASLDAY -- past, present, and future:

Back in March 2014, @JonLenoisSavage posted on Facebook asking a question about the origins of ASL, and in the comments he mentioned an idea of ASL Day --

I loved the idea and messaged him privately. We brainstormed together, and with Holly Savage started the efforts through video, FB, and Twitter. Victor Medina was in the first ASL Day informational video.

At the beginning we repeated what we had known at that time to be the origin story of ASL. Fortunately over time, as the efforts became widespread, people shared more information about indigenous local languages and existing local sign languages before Clerc.

In my own research and readings, I found that Clerc had in effect brought over Signed French, not Old French SL.

From the beginning ASL has been on a battleground of linguicism.

The historical record shows that the ideal at that time was to support building a linguistic community -- and white men gain the most from this. We still have the same problem today in structural racism and sexism in the ASL community, AND linguicism.

(That is not to ignore audism, rather, we need to recognize linguicism in its own as a major factor that harms our community.)

I remember asking a prominent community leader of color about the date of ASL Day back then. They said, history is problematic. Jon and I made the call to move ahead with April 15th as the date because it's a clearly fixed point in our community history -- HOWEVER

It is not the definitive point. I believe that ideas evolve, and moreso I see ASL Day as something that evolves. If it means moving it to a different date, so be it.

Even more so, I would like to see ASL Deaf members of the ASL community take the time to take a serious look at how linguicism affects ASL. How English has distorted language usage in a way that promotes certain dialects above others. Example: English words/FS/grammar

Xenophobic attitudes against other sign languages -- pushing people to drop their native sign languages in favor of English-accented "ASL." Those things need to be noticed in order for our community to consciously stop this behavior.

The question we have going forward is -- What is American Sign Language? I see it as a language that reflects the people who speak it. Both as a warning and as an encouragement. It is up to us, ASL Deaf people, to pay attention and be open to the ongoing process.

So, in closing -- Happy ASL Day, everyone! Celebrate responsibly. ^.^