a more silent world

I use captions on TV/cable for basically everything because my speech discrimination isn't all that great at normal volumes, so I know how invaluable they are. I also wish there were more open-captioned movies in theaters. But, having recently learned that some portion of the Deaf community isn't completely fluent in English, I have to wonder how beneficial the captions are to them. Are captions basically for HoH and bilingual Deaf?? I also was wondering, if you are driving, is it possible to have a meaningful conversation in ASL with the passenger?

So I have been toying around with learning ASL for quite some time now. I tend to be a very busy guy, so I make sure I am fully interested in something before I commit--doing something half-ass is not my style. I was born with hearing loss that has progressed more rapidly than I would have liked. I have had hearing aids for 8 years now and they are a tremendous help. I started with CICs and then moved to ITE because I needed more power. Without them I surely would be have to be more fluent in ASL, or else I would be really non-functional and isolated. I have been researching the Deaf community lately and am really astounded how much I never knew about. I honestly thought ASL was just English words in sign form using English grammar. I think this misconception is really widespread among hearies, and probably furthers false stereotypes that deafies aren't particularly intelligent (since they can't even write proper English). Can't be any dumber than the average Americ...