Spoken languages evolved in the mists of time, sign languages are far more recent inventions. Let’s just say that having a single, universal one in our global world is a missed opportunity, and that even Americans and Brits coming up with their own home versions is an absurd mess. The situation certainly disencourages learning four of these in a single, crowded country like Switzerland (and six if you throw in English)…
I know, an Esperanto revolution is not going to happen (or will fail the same way). What I do expect to happen soon is that deaf people can take their cheap smartphone out and get verbatim, accurate, real-time transcriptions (“subtitles”) of what an other person is saying- in any language.
In schools, preparing for the future, I would rather teach hearing-impaired kids speed-reading (and -typing) and some lip-reading, not obsolete skills (there-I’ve said it!) like a local version of sign language.
Yeah @RobHooft… In an ideal world, a universal standardised form of sign language would be fine, unfortunately we don’t live in such a world… In order to understand how “Deaf Culture” works, you must try to see it from their perspective, the “Deaf”, do not trust the hearing world, they have been persecuted for hundreds of years, for no other reason, than being Deaf… They are aloof, and regard themselves as above the hearing world, ASL signers are particularly militant in the States, they do not regard being Deaf as a disability, in their eyes it is an asset, for the continuation of their culture, for many, having a hearing child, would be regarded as an extreme disappointment, they want, and probably pray for Deaf children! English, French, Spanish or whatever language, isn’t their language, sign language is in their eyes, the only true language… Sign language, is a beautiful language, it’s very structured, and obviously very visual, in many respects, it’s unique, for instance “Multi Channels”, these are signs that have no direct translation into aural language…Basically, those whom were born Deaf, pre-lingually Deaf, is perhaps the best term, they want nothing to do with the hearing world, we have little or no interest to them, and they will ignore us all, if they can! HOH, are not part of their culture, they suffer us, but only just… Cochlear Implants are regarded as an abomination, they want nothing to do with them! Deaf Culture, for us is perhaps very difficult to fathom, simply because we were once part of the hearing world, and as such, we still attach ourselves to that world, in all truth, we are neither Deaf, nor hearing, and stuck in a limbo between the 2. The Deaf, have no such illusions, they are a society, within society, whom probably see themselves as a cut above the rest, and given the evidence of how badly we treat this planet & its inhabitants, who could blame them! Cheers Kev 
Thanks for giving us that perspective. Yes, huge gap between being “merely” hearing-impaired and born deaf- I cannot really imagine how that would be. Learning a language must be difficult, too, and having people around you nonstop communicating -including about you- must be terrible and give you a lifelong feeling of exclusion.
You are very welcome @RobHooft… If you think about it logically, a pre-lingually Deaf person, has never heard the spoken word, to them, it is beyond their comprehension, so they can’t envisage the attraction, sign language is all they have ever known, and all they will ever need to communicate with fellow signers… Interestingly, sign language is 5 times faster than you can speak, and up to 7 times quicker than oral language, much depends on whom is signing Cheers Kev.
Unfortunately, there are several things wrong with your plan.
- I use Google Live Transcribe, and it’s accuracy varies greatly depending on the speaker and ambient noise level. I expect it will take many years until it is as reliable as speech is to normal hearing people.
- Many Deaf cannot speak clearly. It is obviously very difficult to learn to talk without the feedback of hearing your voice. Transcription programs will not help with their end of conversations.
- The Deaf can use their phones to text, but this is a poor substitute for face-to-face communication. Again I use Live Transcribe sometimes, and it is very awkward trying to have a conversation while looking at your phone screen.