I often wonder.....many hearing say they love the Deaf. But is it the signs the hearing love? if we deaf never had a language, would hearing still want be our friends, help us, want to know us, ????
I can only comment from my point of view, and I am going to be completely honest.
I can hear, but I have no voice.
The hearing get frustrated that I can't speak, and I often get frustrated they don't understand me. (It's even more frustrating that I understand them easily, so I know exactly what they want and just can't communicate it to them.) They expect me to have a voice for them to hear, but I just don't have one.
I do my best to communicate with them, but it's always limited to short banter scrawled on my writing tablet. That really puts a damper on real friendship.
The Deaf, on the other hand, don't care that I can't speak. Those I've talked with were curious about the details of my inability to speak, but I was just a person to them. I wasn't an inconvenience, or stupid, or any of the other negatives most people I encounter tend to put on me.
I don't care what language you use.
I like ASL, I think it's an excellent language and I strongly prefer it over English.... However, no matter the language, yes, I would still want to make friends among the Deaf.
I spent the vast majority of my life among people who think I'm stupid for being unable to speak. It has done me no favors. Even the guy I live with doesn't say much to me, other than to yell at me when he's frustrated he can't get an answer from me if he's in another room. He insists he's my friend, but when he's home, I'm still on my laptop alone despite him sitting right across from me. and he has thrown my lack of voice back in my face more times than I care to think about. He thinks it's funny.
That's not the type of person I care to spend my time with.
Of course, having no voice makes my point of view a little unique.