I love ASL and it is a wonderful language, but if two people want to communicate it is totally unnecessary. When I was a kid my friends parents were Deaf. I learned "how to talk with my hands" (it wasn't ASL yet) but my mother never learned a word -- and she became good friends with his parents -- The same way she did with anyone else she knew who did not speak English.
It is amazing what two people with no common language between them can convey to each other if they want too: And if they don't want too -- having a common language just confuses the issue by making it look as though they are communicating.
