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I want to explain why I don't think it's quite the same, people (foreigners in America) approaching us (fluent English speakers) for help.
There are a *whole* lot of us. And we get to talk to each other all the time. We have all kinds of luxuries we don't even realize we're enjoying just by not being in a minority in that particular sense. (We may individually be in other minorities or deal with other challenges, but that's another subject.)
There are *not* a whole lot of Deaf people (fluent ASL users), in comparisson. I think the ratio is something like 1:2,000. So if hearing asl user wanabees are out there trying to find a Deaf person to help them, Deaf people are probably getting that request a whole lot more frequently than most of us. Maybe some people are fine with it, I don't know, not my business. But if there's any stress involved, you can figure it's an order of magnitude greater for that reason alone.
Then think about the fact that you probably get to chat in English pretty much as much as you want. If you can find someone to talk to, you're probaby talking to them in English. Deaf people may not have that luxury, to get to use their primary language as much as they'd like. Not necessariy true for all Deaf people of course. Some work in Deaf schools or have lots of Deaf friends they see all the time, but some work in jobs surrounded by hearing people and only get to really fluently use their own language at Deaf events (if they can get to them) and VP conversations, etc. This might not be too much of an issue, unless you're interupting a conversation a Deaf person is having with another fluent ASL user, or if you're taking up alot of their time at a Deaf event when they might really rather get more time in with their friends they don't see enough.
There are a couple other privilege-related factors, but I think I'm going to hold off on that. You can get a head start though, by reading books on Deaf history, oralism, and the annoying hearing people stories thread here.
There are a *whole* lot of us. And we get to talk to each other all the time. We have all kinds of luxuries we don't even realize we're enjoying just by not being in a minority in that particular sense. (We may individually be in other minorities or deal with other challenges, but that's another subject.)
There are *not* a whole lot of Deaf people (fluent ASL users), in comparisson. I think the ratio is something like 1:2,000. So if hearing asl user wanabees are out there trying to find a Deaf person to help them, Deaf people are probably getting that request a whole lot more frequently than most of us. Maybe some people are fine with it, I don't know, not my business. But if there's any stress involved, you can figure it's an order of magnitude greater for that reason alone.
Then think about the fact that you probably get to chat in English pretty much as much as you want. If you can find someone to talk to, you're probaby talking to them in English. Deaf people may not have that luxury, to get to use their primary language as much as they'd like. Not necessariy true for all Deaf people of course. Some work in Deaf schools or have lots of Deaf friends they see all the time, but some work in jobs surrounded by hearing people and only get to really fluently use their own language at Deaf events (if they can get to them) and VP conversations, etc. This might not be too much of an issue, unless you're interupting a conversation a Deaf person is having with another fluent ASL user, or if you're taking up alot of their time at a Deaf event when they might really rather get more time in with their friends they don't see enough.
There are a couple other privilege-related factors, but I think I'm going to hold off on that. You can get a head start though, by reading books on Deaf history, oralism, and the annoying hearing people stories thread here.