Willis Gifford They Used Signs

Willis Gifford (1890 - 1987) teacher and West Tisbury resident, talks about the Chilmark Deaf community and the prevelance of communicating using unique Vineyard signs in an excerpt from a 1982 interview with Linsey Lee.
Families that came from England to the Vineyard in the late 17th century carried a recessive gene for deafness. Their descendants settled in Chilmark, where isolation reinforced the effects of the gene, causing rates of hereditary deafness far higher than on the mainland. Deafness became part of everyday life in Chilmark, with a unique local sign language used by deaf and hearing residents alike. As Chilmark grew more connected to the outside world, the effect of the gene diminished and deaf culture faded. The last native speaker of Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language died in 1952.
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