I know a lady with deaf parents, and she was constantly running into deaf people they knew. I asked her once, "Jesus, do they have a club or something?" And she laughed and said basically. They assume everyone who isn't deaf is out to get 'em or rip them off or some shit. They'll trust some people for no reason and distrust others for no reason, and in the end, they get ripped off by people they shouldn't have trusted. Since they all knew she knew sign language, they abused the shit out of her. She was calling their insurance companies, financial advisers, mortgage companies, doctors, everything for these people because they trusted her since she knew ASL and they were too lazy to use Relay or email to handle their shit on their own.
It was very interesting hearing how they name kids. They don't know what names sound like, so they have to ask someone who can hear. Her name is actually misspelled because that's what they thought it sounded like and therefore spelled like. They are mostly concerned with their ASL "name", which is just a specific hand gesture, usually the ASL for one of their initials, but tapped on their body a different place. For instance, "Brian" to the parents might just be the ASL for the letter B tapped against their cheek or chest. Other than the initials, the actual name and spelling is an afterthought. At least from what she's experienced in the deaf community around here.
