Did Alexander Graham Bell do sign language?

Alexander Graham Bell was a strong advocate for oralism, which is the belief that deaf people should learn to speak and lipread rather than using sign language. He even believed that sign language was harmful to deaf people and that it would hinder their integration into society.

He was not a signer himself.

However, his mother and wife were both deaf and taught him sign language. This knowledge of sign language, combined with his research on sound and hearing, ultimately led him to invent the telephone.

So, while Bell himself did not use sign language, he did have a significant exposure to it through his family and his research, which ultimately influenced his work.