it is a universal language

actually they’re different forms of sign language.

American Sign Language (ASL): US Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS): Brazil (official since 2002) Japanese Sign Language Taiwanese Sign Language Korean Sign Language

wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_language

There are a number of sign languages that emerged from French Sign Language (LSF), or were the result of language contact between local community sign languages and LSF. These include: French Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language, American Sign Language, Irish Sign Language, Russian Sign Language, Dutch Sign Language, Flemish Sign Language, Belgian-French Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language, Mexican Sign Language, Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) and others.

* A subset of this group includes languages that have been heavily influenced by American Sign Language (ASL), or are regional varieties of ASL. Bolivian Sign Language is sometimes considered a dialect of ASL. Thai Sign Language is a mixed language derived from ASL and the native sign languages of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and may be considered part of the ASL family. Others possibly influenced by ASL include Ugandan Sign Language, Kenyan Sign Language, Philippine Sign Language and Malaysian Sign Language.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Finnish Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language and Norwegian Sign Language belong to a Scandinavian Sign Language family.

Icelandic Sign Language is known to have originated from Danish Sign Language, although significant differences in vocabulary have developed in the course of a century of separate development.

Israeli Sign Language was influenced by German Sign Language.

According to a SIL report, the sign languages of Russia, Moldova and Ukraine share a high degree of lexical similarity and may be dialects of one language, or distinct related languages. The same report suggested a “cluster” of sign languages centered around Czech Sign Language, Hungarian Sign Language and Slovakian Sign Language. This group may also include Romanian, Bulgarian, and Polish sign languages.

Known isolates include Nicaraguan Sign Language, Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language, and Providence Island Sign Language.

Sign languages of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Iraq (and possibly Saudi Arabia) may be part of a sprachbund, or may be one dialect of a larger Eastern Arabic Sign Language.

The sign languages of the deaf are definitely NOT one universal language, as calderoh points out.

Nor are they directly derived from the mother tongue in question, in the sense of ‘spelling out’ the words. Sign languages have their own grammars and structure, and are a completely evolved means of communication - not a poor reflection of spoken languages.

A fascinating and easy to read book is Oliver Sacks’ ‘Seeing Voices’.

Sign language is the same no matter what–if your hispanic, asian, caucasian…its the same..