This has happened to me, too. I'm not very oral, but I have good English skills, I sign PSE, etc. I went to Gally in summer of 1998 for a summer college bound program for deaf high school students. I thought I would enjoy my stay. But no I did not enjoy it very much. There were 2 groups in my program, 1 is strong ASLers, the other group is mixed oral/pse/cued/etc. I tried to hang out with the ASLers since I had been at a state school for the last few months. I sit at their table (ASLers) at lunch and they completely ignored me, as if I did not exist. Next day, I try sitting at the other table (oral/pse/cued/etc), they take interest in me, all of them. Even though I don't speak well, I mainly sign, I manage to get on well with the oral and cued students, as well the PSE signers.
What is it with the ASLers who find it necessary to reject others who aren't ASLers but wants to learn ASL...geez.
So, as a result I left Gally knowing that I would never fit in there and as a result I was pretty depressed about the whole situation. I didn't know what to do now that Gally was out of the question, that it was not the right school. (remember, I was only 17 at the time).
What the ASLers did was NOT nice...they need to grow up!
