French priest and physician who worked extensively with the deaf. Embarrassed by his failure to recognize deafness in two girls he was trying to speak with, l'Epée devoted a great deal of attention to developing sign language and finger-spelling for the deaf. By so doing, he demonstrated that the deaf are capable of learning, something not recognized at the time. Since then, other advances such as the development of American Sign Language and other devices have become available to the deaf community.