Never make assumptions.
If I were you, I would watch my fundamental assumptions. I will have to disagree with you on this one. Growing up I had to rely on lip-reading/speech, body gestures and basic written words to communicate with my family. I missed out on so much even after I gained proficiency in written English in the sixth grade, as no member in my family would tell me what the conversation was about at meals, and I often struggled with loneliness.
When I discovered the beauty of ASL at the age of 16, I wished that my family had done this. No amount of writing, texting, instant messaging, e-mails, body gestures, lip-reading/speech, or mouthing the words will ever measure up to ASL in the richness and ease of communication. You just can't get any better than ASL. When I requested my immediate family members to use ASL so I could be included in most of, if not all of, the conversations they did not. We were having arguments over this to the point where my family stopped letting me sit down at the table with them at mealtimes or gatherings. I had to eat alone. Even at public restaurants, across the room from them. Even in front of my softball coaches and teammates. No words can describe how humiliating and painful those experiences were. No deaf or hard-of-hearing child/teenager should ever go through that. Ever.
I left two months after my high school graduation and did not speak to my family members for five consecutive years. To this day my family does not fully include me. I'm 24 now. The quality of our interactions is so-so at best, and our relationships remain strained. My father has the nerve to say that all of this is my fault. And my family wonders why I have shut them out of my life for the most part.
