The purpose of this article is to show sign language as a form of communication for people with hearing disabilities among themselves and with hearing people. The article is divided into three parts.
In the first part, I analyze the historical outline of the formulation of modern sign language. Starting from the non-verbal forms of communication of the deaf as early as the beginning of human history, I reconstruct the most important events related to the development of forms of this language. In doing so, I particularly emphasize the contribution of the deaf to education.
In the second part, I refer to the nature of sign language. I characterize its elements (individual signs and gestures) and the rules for making them into a compact language. This section also covers the two most important sign language systems, i.e. Polish Sign Language and Sign Language System.
In the last section, I outline how sign language is used in hearing-impaired communities with the hearing world. I analyze such life situations as family relations, functioning in society and the legal situation of sign language.
Based on these analyses, we can conclude that sign language is an indispensable form used in communicating with people with hearing disabilities. Its absence causes a significant reduction in the level of social development of a deaf person. Sign language should therefore continue to be supported and popularized, also among hearing people.