Page "Martha's Vineyard Sign Language" Paragraph 6

As more deaf people remained on the mainland, and others who returned brought with them deaf spouses they met there ( whose hearing loss may not have been due to the same hereditary cause ), the line of hereditary deafness began to diminish.

As the 20th century came to a turn, the previously isolated community of fishers and farmers began to see the influx of tourists that would become a mainstay in the island economy.

The jobs in tourism were not as deaf-friendly as fishing and farming had been.

Further, as intermarriage and migration joined the people of Martha's Vineyard to the mainland, the island community more and more resembled the wider community there.