A sign language dictionary of science terms has been created to help deaf children by researchers in Scotland.

“The scientific vocabulary for deaf children has developed simply because we needed it. People realised that there weren’t enough deaf teachers in schools and that finger spelling doesn’t work for complex subjects. You have to be able to understand the English first and then the concept and that can all be very difficult,” Rachel O’Neill, of the University of Edinburgh, told The Times.

The paper says the “simple but descriptive gestures” brought “gasps of recognition” from deaf children and their teachers when they were demonstrated last week. Videos of the terms have all been made available online.

They are brilliantly direct, and even those with no grasp of sign language (such as me) can understand terms such as air resistance. If this proves difficult there are explanatory videos in sign language alongside.

Image: Alamy