I’m not talking my graduates here. I’m talking the staff they hire. I’m also not talking people who went deaf over time, but those who were born that way. There is a drastic difference between the two in my experience. The born deaf are those I’m citing and I’ve heard others with even more interaction than me echo the opinion.
I would assume that as you went deaf over time, you were educated in the normal system.
I had occasion to experience this insularity early upon losing my hearing. I visited a support group for the deaf without knowing ASL and felt very left out. Nobody really talked to me. If what you say is correct, maybe they were unable to do so.
Anyway, with medical advances these days, the “deaf community” is an ever-shrinking group.