Deaf people in the Western and Middle Eastern world have gathered together using sign language for 2,000 years.[7] When Deaf people from different sign language backgrounds get together, a contact variety of sign language arises from this contact, whether it is in an informal personal context or in a formal international context. Deaf people have therefore used a kind of auxiliary gestural system for international communication at sporting or cultural events since the early 19th century.[8] The need to standardise an international sign system was discussed at the first World Deaf Congress in 1951, when the WFD was formed.