Editing Sign language (section)

=== Deaf communities and Deaf culture ===
{{Main|Deaf culture}}

When deaf people constitute a relatively small proportion of the general population, deaf communities often develop that are distinct from the surrounding hearing community.<ref name="WollLadd2003">{{citation
|last1 = Woll
|first1 = Bencie
|last2 = Ladd
|first2 = Paddy
|date = 2003
|chapter = Deaf communities
|editor-last1 = Marschark
|editor-first1 = Marc
|editor-last2 = Spencer
|editor-first2 = Patricia Elizabeth
|title = Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education
|place = Oxford UK
|publisher = Oxford University Press
|isbn = 978-0-195-14997-5
}}</ref>
These deaf communities are very widespread in the world, associated especially with sign languages used in urban areas and throughout a nation, and the cultures they have developed are very rich.

One example of sign language variation in the deaf community is [[Black ASL]]. This sign language was developed in the black deaf community as a variant during the American era of segregation and racism, where young black deaf students were forced to attend separate schools than their white deaf peers.<ref>McCaskill, C. (2011). The hidden treasure of Black ASL: its history and structure. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.</ref>