For the last few days there have been an interesting, constructive dialogue going on over one blog owned by Patti Durr who wrote a posting "Cochlear Implants... Let's Talk" (http://handeyes.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/cochlear-implants-lets-talk/). I have been following it, because I am a Deaf mother of a late-deafened teenage son who received a cochlear implant last year and I have seen both pro-CI and anti-CI sides debating the pros and cons of CIs, especially over the babies and children diagnosed with hearing loss.
I write this blog, with Patti's wonderful blog in my mind, having NO desire to open any can of worms, bringing up the word "audism" to this blog. I am just expressing my opinion and how I feel about it and you are welcome to leave any comments on my blog... respectfully please.
First of all, the CI is just another hearing aid for my son so no big deal was ever made over it; instead we strove forth to meet his needs. He is comfortable with speaking and listening, as well as being fluent in ASL. We made it clear to him that CI was NEVER a miracle, unlike what CI companies make it look like in their marketing ads, and that it might require some work, like some kind of AVT (at the end the sound/speech recognition assessment tests showed that he did not need any therapy; his brain picked up CI-generated sounds easily, thanks to his having been hearing when he was very young.) Nah, nah, he was never mentioned in the media or anything like that. Currently he attends a Deaf bilingual school.
Anyway, in the "Cochlear Implants... Let's Talk" posting, the brave hearing parents showed up and shared their experiences and their feelings about the Deaf community's attitude toward the CI technology. Of course, the hearing parents feel that the younger the child is, the better chances for attaining a desirable hearing level from the CI technology are. Overalls, they are appreciative of what the Deaf Culture offers for their Deaf children and they make efforts to involve them in the Deaf community. Kudos to them. ~hands waving~
My experiences with the attitudes from both Deaf and hearing communities toward my son with CI... I hate to say this, but he experiences more backlash from the Deaf community over his CI. He tells me how he'd be quiet when his Deaf peers discuss CI with scorn and a degree of hostility, due to them hearing a lot of negative/horror stories from the older Deaf people. One time, a week before his surgery, he spent overnight at a Deaf friend's house and he watched the Deaf adults discussing CI surgery somewhat negatively, about how babies and children died from the CI... they knew that my son would have surgery and they talked about it anyway. Also, another Deaf friend emailed me a link to a Deaf vlogger's video about a kid having his CI exploding out of his head, which is NOT true, when she learned that I gave an OK for my son to have the surgery. From the hearing community, he gets more curiosity... "What's that? Oh, cool. Looks like some kind of iPod" attitude, but overalls, the majority of the hearing people doesn't really care.
Patti brought up an idea of a list of do's and don't's for the Deaf community to behave when they encounter Deaf people (children, youths, and adults) with CIs:
"- don’t look at the child as one big ole CI (or 2) they are much much more than that
- don’t be quizzing them about their CIs
- dont be throwing projections onto them re: ur own issues or concerns re: CIs
- do accept them
- do welcome them
- do love them
- do encourage them to sign
- do make an effort to meet them half way "
She's asking for more ideas for do's and don't's, so go over to her blog and share your ideas there. One Deaf commenter expressed her concern that the teachers praised the CIs. To be honest, I have NEVER had ANY teachers from both Deaf schools and mainstreaming schools praising the CI to my face... It could be due to my son acting normal about it and due to my awareness of the sensitive, controversial issues surrounding the subject. If I were a hearing parent, I might feel, think, and act differently.
I acknowledge the concerns over the way the CI companies market their products and I DO question that. I DO question the prices of CI. I'd like to see a more balanced marketing advertisements. I'd like to see the actual statistics of successes and failures of the CI technology.
Overalls, thanks to Patti Durr for bringing it up, opening up a willingness to talk about the attitudes toward CIs.
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