I did go to event ! Here’s how it went
~1 there were other hearing people too , but all 3 of them were much more advanced than me.
~2 pretty much everyone else was also more advanced than me . Except a lovely, late-deafened older lady.
~3 nine out of 10 times I approached people first
~4 People did slow down for me , they were very patient with me despite my rusty signing skills
~5 however there were also people who weren’t interested in talking with me. There was this girl group around my age, i won’t lie- I wanted to talk / hang out with them so badly! But they subtly and politely made it clear they don’t want it 🥲🫠 so I left them alone
~6 I mainly talked with the lovely lady , a deaf - interpreter couple, and a few more people :) One was a hearing coda and the other two were deaf.
~7 one of them, to my surprise, used his voice when I struggled to understand what he was signing. I thought this was against the etiquette but I didn’t say anything. The worst part is I struggled to understand what he was saying too. I wanted to ask him to write it down but I didn’t want to embarrass him. So I just nodded and smiled.
~8 there was one person who was being lowkey rude and just weird . For me this didn’t change anything as it was only that one person.
I think that’s about it! Overall I had so much fun and think it was great experience. I would definitely go again.
edit: typo