hanging out with Deaf people

It is an immense privilege to know sign language. Instantaneously you are transported into a different world of a vibrant, living culture at the crossroads of linguistics and kinestheses. You become more comfortable with your own body and how you express yourself, and you see life through an extraordinarily different set of lenses.

What's particularly interesting is seeing how society reacts to deaf people, and how that reaction changes once they realize you're actually hearing.

It's a fine line to walk as a person who can communicate effortlessly in both languages: Do I tell the waiter I'm hearing? (at the risk of the waiter ignoring everyone else at the table for the remainder of the evening) Do I say nothing and let people assume I'm deaf? Do I volunteer to interpret for friends?

And another thing I've noticed- I get hit on more when I'm signing!!! Is there something different about me when I'm signing, or do men feel more comfortable chatting it up with deaf people? Once I start voicing I can see the intrigue fade from their eyes; I've lost my magic spark.

At some bars in the past few weeks I've been in situations where I was trying to execute a fairly difficult juggling act between being pleasant and conversational with the boys while not excluding deaf friends from the conversation. The result is usually interpreting, which is fine, but like so often in interpreting situations it is that person facilitating communication who ironically is left out of the discussion.

I would like to say that in a perfect world everyone would know sign language and these issues wouldn't present themselves. But then how else could I talk openly about the hottie standing next to be at the bar without him knowing it?!?