How far does sign language go in chemistry? C2W | Mens & Molecule spoke to four deaf scientists to find out about their most common struggles, how signs for scientific concepts are created, and the (unexpected) benefits of sign language in chemistry.

1880 was a dark year for deaf people in Europe and the USA. In that year, an international conference was organised in Milan by a group who were opposed to sign language and wanted deaf children to learn to speak and lip-read ‘normally’. By cleverly choosing the participants, it was decided that sign language would be banned in schools that same year. This has been the case in the Netherlands for a hundred years,’ says sign linguist Richard Cokart, who works at the Dutch Sign Language Centre (NGC). This has created gaps in the sign language lexicon, which has had far-reaching negative consequences for the educational, social, emotional and cultural development of deaf people. This is also the case in countries such as Belgium, Germany, Great Britain and (with a few exceptions) the United States.