American Sign Language Medical Glossary

This glossary is a link to the

These topics link to pages which display a number of signs simultaneously. They will take a while to download, so do something while you are waiting. The advantage of this format over the MSU browser is that terms are arranged by topic instead of alphabetically. Also, it is faster overall to load all the terms at once instead of one at a time, especially since the Quicktime plug-in only needs to be downloaded once per page.

I have tried to verbally describe variant signs that I am aware of. There is a lot of regional variation in ASL. When I say, "This sign may be made ...," it means you may see your patient use that alternate formation (not that all patients will know all variants.). If you use a sign that draws a blank look, try one of the variants, or else fingerspell it and find out what the local sign is.