In Plato's cratylus, which dates to 360 B.C., Socrates alludes to the use of signs by deaf people. In his Natural History, completed in 79 A.D., Pliny the Elder alludes to Quintus Pedius, the deaf son of a Roman consul, who had to seek permission from Caesar Augustus to pursue his training as an artist. During the Renaissance, scores of deaf people achieved fame throughout Europe, and by the middle of the 17th century the talents and communication...