Exactly! I am deaf and when I’m in an environment that’s fully signed, I cease to be disabled. Truly! And those who aren’t signing-aware in such environments become disabled language-wise.
That reminds me of a time I went to the pub with friends after work. I was sat at the table with my back to the rest of the pub. After a while I though "wow it's really quite in here tonight" at which point I turned around to find that the pub was packed, but with deaf people all signing to each other. Turns out it was a monthly deaf meetup at the pub.
It really demonstrated your point. I was quite jealous of their ability to hold a conversation with people all the way across the pub :)
It really demonstrated your point. I was quite jealous of their ability to hold a conversation with people all the way across the pub :)