Although today the story is not completely clear, it is known that Aristotle argued that the deaf were not capable of learning, and that everyone born deaf was also mute, then that theory was discussed by Europe, and it was there that characters like Geronimo Cardano, an Italian mathematician was the first to discover in 1500s that to learn was not necessary to hear, then Pedro Ponce de Leon, a Spanish monk, and Juan Pablo de Bonet, a Spanish priest, developed methods of studies for the deaf , which were very successful, the latter developed a manual alphabet system, that was the first recognized in Deaf history. The handshapes in this alphabet correspond to different sounds of speech. Organized deaf education was non-existent until around 1750, this was when the first social and religious association for deaf people was founded by Abbe de L’Epee, a French Catholic priest, in Paris. Abbe Charles Michel de L’Epee is one of the most important people in the history of sign language but it wasn´t until 1814 when Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a minister from Hartford, brought from Europe the first school for deaf, known as the American School for the Deaf, established in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817 as the first public free deaf school in the U.S.
