If you want people to treat you better you have to treat them better.

Stereotypes have no value, so dump them and start over treating people like people. You will find that will open a lot more doors than expecting others to change to meet your ideas on how they should act.

I make friends with people of all backgrounds (racial, various able levels, and sexual orientations). I might feel uncomfortable around some of them, but they all have equal value to me and their opinions are no less important than my own. This attitude helps break down some of the barriers of ignorance that have been built up.

I am also willing to correct my behavior or words to match the standard of the person I am talking to, because they are giving me the priviledge of their time.

I never know where I will be when I next need a ton of help from strangers, so for me it is vital that I make sure that as many people around me as possible are willing to help me when I get into trouble.

SKOREAPV83 since you need people to be willing to adjust to tactile signing, you really can't afford to be offending people just because they don't fit your concepts of what a person who should pay attention to you looks, talks, or acts like.

I learned social interaction from my father. He would just walk into a crowd of people (could be hundreds) and by the end of the day have spoken to each and everyone of them. He wouldn't remember any of them even maybe an hour later, but they would all remember him for a long time. I am similar, but I remember people for longer (not their names though). I have plenty of young adults who came up to me years later and told me that I inspired them to do something with their life usually from a 5-15 random discussion while I was waiting somewhere bored.