Communication gap amongst Deaf people within the Community

Only today I realized that there is a huge gap in the communication amongst Deaf people using sign language.

I realized that I have some difficulties in determining whether the persons I signed were able to grasp what I said to them. They may say they understand what I said. I would take it that they understood the signs I made to them, but my question is whether do they really understand the meaning I tried to convey. 

I remembered how I struggled to get responses I desired to have from the Deaf people in different states in Malaysia in interview sessions I carried for my thesis report. I studied some the signs the Deaf people usually use in their community and I attempted to use it to communicate my questions to them and I expected they would be able to respond to my curiosity, however, I became frustrated when I got their responses off the topic. I could not get what I want from them. That is the data I collected and I am thankful that there is something else in their responses I can take for the report. 

Sometimes I also have similar problem in my personal interaction with my dear friends. I am not happy because I could not go to their communication level and I failed to make them to understand what I said. It could indicate that there is no standard pattern in sign language use in the Community. 

I recalled once again, how I was very naive after I graduated from the secondary school in 2001. I met many Deaf people who were older than me outside the school I attended. I was KTBM user and I was totally lost in many conversations I attempted to participate. I suffered as I had had difficulties to acquire  sign language at such later age. It took me a few years to acquire Malaysian Sign Language (MySL) full-fledged, yet I still would have to increase new vocabulary which may emerge later, at any time, in the future. The MySL is not developed completely yet, I believe. 

This experience I had might have happened similarly to these Deaf graduated from their schools. The gap I mentioned above shall be narrowed in some ways, by exposing the Deaf students to the Deaf people outside the schools as much as possible.