Throughout history, mankind has found ways for the deaf to communicate through the use of sign language. Sign language was originated in Italy by Abbe de l'Eppe. De l'Eppe studied the deaf and how they communicated. He examined that the deaf used their own homemade gestures to communicate. After this small discovery he created a standard version of sign language in which he used gestures, hand signs, and finger spelling. Later in 1815 an American man by the name of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudent was also interested in deaf communication. Gallaudent decided to travel to Europe where he studied at Abbe Roche Ambroise Sicard's school. After a few months of studying in Italy he returned to the United States, as the first sign language teacher and opened the first school for the deaf in America. Later schools for the hearing impaired started to pop up everywhere in the United States. There was a school in New York that opened it's doors in 1818. Another school opened in Pennsylvania in the year 1820. Also in remembrance of Gallaudent the Gallaudent college was opened in Washington D.C in 1864. The Gallaudent college is now the only liberal arts college for the hearing impaired in the whole united states and the world. Without the cause of Abbe de l'Eppe, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudent, and the schools for the deaf, the deaf may never have a standard way of communicating.