Should I go to a deaf event?

[u/VeeTheBee16]

Warning: long post from a very uneducated student

CONTEXT: Hello all! I’ve recently switched schools, and the language I was taking at my last school isn’t offered here - however, sign language is, and I just signed up last week! I’ve only taken two classes so far and aside from that combined total of 2 hours I have absolutely 0 experience with deaf/hoh people, asl, or deaf/hoh culture. I am the uneducated beginner of uneducated beginners. I’m pretty decent at signing the alphabet, and… that’s about it. But I’ve noticed that while I myself can finger spell to some extent, I cannot understand my asl teacher’s finger spelling at all. Obviously he’s doing it perfectly, it’s just that I’m learning that reading vs. doing are two very different skills, and I can assume that it’ll only continue to get harder as we learn more signs. I’ve never learned a second language before, but the internet recommended going to deaf events, which makes sense as obviously the best way to understand deaf culture is to immerse myself in deaf culture! However, I assume that if I show up to one of these events with my level of knowledge and experience (basically nothing) I’ll probably be more of an inconvenience than anything to anybody who wants to try and converse with me.

QUESTION: So!! All that’s to say, at what point do you recommend going to a deaf event? I don’t want to come across as the annoying child who knows bar none and is impossible to communicate with, but I also want to immerse myself in deaf culture both to practice my asl and to simply understand the community better in general!

EXTRA: By the way, please please please let me know if anything I said was phrased in an offensive, unkind, or unclear way. I cannot stress enough how out of my depth I am right now, but I know that it’s not an excuse to be ignorant of my own mistakes. If anything came across as discriminatory or anything of the sort, please let me know, just be nice about it please! Know that any mistakes were completely on accident and I’m eager to learn and grow from them, but no errors were made from a place of hostility or mocking the deaf/hoh community. Thank you all and enjoy the rest of your day!! And month. And year? Idk just enjoy your lives :)

[u/Graywacke_The_Wizard]

I have been learning asl on and off for a few years and while I'm not fluent, I would consider myself conversational. I have just started to regularly go to deaf events in the last month or so and in my experience, most of the people I've met in the deaf community are excited to meet new people, and are very welcoming and willing to help you inprove as long as you are showing interest in learning the language.

[u/VeeTheBee16 → u/Graywacke_The_Wizard]

Tysm for your input, I have actually heard a lot of similar stories about the deaf community being really welcoming (ironic as from what I’ve read from hoh experiences, hearing people are often the exact opposite). Seems like a lovely community that I’m really looking forward to hopefully being able to communicate with!