No one really knows when my sister and I became deaf, some family members are saying that my sister and I lost our hearing at the age of 5 from illness, and the rest of them are saying we were born deaf and our doctor doesn't even have the answers to what cause our deafness 
....
I'm sure they were surprised and shocked..
I'm not quite sure what you meant by " minority " ?....
Yes, my hearing sister knows more sign than my younger sister, brother, step mom and my grandmother....My husband is hard of hearing so yes he knows signs and my children know a few signs... we're trying to get them to sign everyday not once in a while...
I learned oral method first, then sign language later, now I prefer both....
Mainstream all the way..
I work for my dad's company, which we travel from one state to another doing a rib cook off show....worked for my dad for almost 10 years I believe...
I played softball and volleyball and still do, I play with my children, socialize with my friends, and working outdoors too...
ASL is the first and natural language for the deaf, hoh people, to help those who are trying to communicate.. It may be a tool for language development prior to developing spoken language, also the earlier any child is exposed to and begins to acquire language, the better that child's communication skills will become, and it also helps the child's language learning process during this important stage of development...Anyone can learn ASL, and it's important that hearing parents use this method for their deaf children ( with use of hearing aids or CI ) no matter whether they can hear or not....
ASL #1!! 
Well, there are some things I don't agree on while there are other things I do agree on, so I dunno, ...
As matter of fact, I have nothing against cochlear implants, since I support both the parents and individual choice, but however I wish sometimes they do it for the right reason only if one wants to hear more...
Yes, Helen Keller, because I became very interested how she worked so hard throughout her long life to achieve social change, she spent her life helping blind and deaf people and she was the first deafblind person to graduate from college, she also gave speeches ( even through she was embarrassed by her speaking voice and terrified of the crowds but she had the courage to speak out for what she believed in ) and wrote many books too...She is the kind of person that I look up to....
Trying to understand what some hearing people are saying to me, not being able to find as any jobs I wanted, feeling left out during a family get-together...And when my children were little, I was having trouble understanding them as well too... and it hurts me as a mother....
Actually a lot of things I would like to see change, such as how hearing people are like toward us, more education schools for those who have trouble with speech and language developed, etc
Well to be honest, I'm pretty tired of hearing about CI this or that and how it benefit deaf children with CI, if they're implanted earlier, 
...I want to hear something else, something new, something more interesting....also I just wish they would stop using the word " deaf and dumb " ....
Well from my past experience it was very hard since I did not have any interpreter in any of my mainstream classes, only if they would have provide interpreter than it wouldn't have been this hard....
Be patience, understanding and hear our feelings, opinions etc..
To exposure both ASL and English... =)
