Cochlear Implants: Hearing People In The Deaf Community

He discusses the myths and prejudices that Deaf people frequently face, encouraging readers to reconsider their ideas about Deafness and to appreciate and celebrate diversity. Deaf Again explores the cultural disparities between the Deaf and hearing populations, which is one of its main themes. In addition to highlighting the significance of American Sign Language as a critical tool for communication and cultural expression, Drolsbaugh skillfully illustrates the extensive history of Deaf culture. He draws attention to the challenges Deaf people have navigating a predominately auditory culture by drawing a comparison between this and the hearing world's reliance on spoken language. Additionally, Drolsbaugh analyzes the subtleties of Deaf cultural norms and values, including the significance of visual communication, collectivism, and pride in one's Deaf identity.

First, this book allowed me to see the negative way in which deaf people were perceived. This book is not old by any means, and I was taken aback by the way deaf children were perceived by not only others in the community, but often times by their own parents as well. The term

Cochlear implants are becoming more and more popular now. Even babies as young as 12 months are receiving a cochlear implant. For hearing parents it’s more convenient to have their child get a cochlear implant rather then to learn sign language. Hearing parents usually just look for the simple way out because they don’t want to have a child who is “different.�

Passages A & B have different views on what would work best for the Deaf people, but they both want want a positive outcome for the Deaf community. Passage A mainly talks about how the cochlear implants do not benefit deaf people and how the permanent effects from it can be a disadvantage for the implant patient in the deaf community. “Implanted children would "end up trapped between two worlds: they can't live the way hearing people can, and yet they won't have grown up in the deaf community, using ASL" (Zimmer 85)”. The author helps the reader understand the Deaf community rather then understand the medical view of cochlear implants.

The advent of new technologies such as the cochlear implant will not ultimately eradicate Deaf culture. The Deaf community is too close-knit to become torn apart. Not everyone has access to these new technologies because they are not eligible for them or the price is not right for their low budgets. Similarly, not everyone will be successful with the cochlear implant and most will return to Deaf culture for the rest of their lives. However, for those who are successful, they can still be a part of Deaf culture if they are bilingual and have adequate access to the Deaf community and its members. Knowledge is power and ASL education is spreading throughout high schools and universities all over the United States. These are several factors that

A Cochlear Implant is an electronic device that partially restores hearing in people who have severe hearing loss due to damage of the inner ear and who receive limited benefit from hearing aids (http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/understand/hearing-and-hl/hl-treatments/cochlear-implant). In some cases there are patients whose hearing did not adjust correctly, having a risk of developing a virus, complications after the surgery, the benefits of sign language without a cochlear implant and lastly children or adults with cochlear implants may not even develop a good speech. There are many positive and negative articles I have read on cochlear implants. As a parent you are not only putting your child at risk, you are also withdrawing them from the deaf community, the one they were naturally born into. I do not support cochlear implants, children should not be implanted until they are grown to the point where they can make their own choice

Since a forced cochlear implant would introduce the child into the hearing culture, this decision would limit the child’s opportunity to explore and learn more about the Deaf culture. One such example demonstrates this by showcasing a video containing an interview with the hearing parents of a deaf girl who has a cochlear implant; in this video, the parents stated that the reason why they chose to have their daughter receive the cochlear implant, who was at the age of three and a half, was because the child was struggling with her deafness and that the cochlear implant was the only solution that would fix the issue (“Cochlear Implants – A Cultural Threat”, n.d.). The main issue here was that the parents believed that the only way their daughter would have a happy life was to use the cochlear implant; there was little consideration given to alternative methods, primarily because she was at a young age. If a forced cochlear implant were to be given to all Deaf children early on in their lives, they would be given no choice but to accept the hearing culture; although they could have functioned well in the Deaf culture, the culture that they were born in, the mandatory cochlear implant forces them into a culture that opposes their

Studies have shown that if a child receives a cochlear implant before the child is 18 months old followed by intensive therapy the child is likely to develop language skills that are comparable to their peers and many children are able to attend mainstream schooling. This sounds great to parents, but what happens when the cochlear implant doesn’t work or if the child doesn’t receive the necessary therapy for understanding sound using the cochlear implant. Because the children were not exposed to American sign language (ASL) this can delay the children education and learning compared to their peers. When children are born to hearing parents they want the child to be like them and be able to hear. To the hearing, deafness is a disability and if there is a way that they can make their child hear, most parents will do everything in their power to make sure they can give that to their child. Then again, many parents forget is that living with a cochlear implant is a lifelong process and involves years to decades of therapy for their child. And if a child receives the implant later than 18 months old it becomes harder for the child to understand speech from a cochlear implant and more intensive therapy for the child. Children start learning language from their parents listening to them talk to others and talk to the baby. If the child is deaf, they are missing this important development of speech, which makes it harder for the child to learn to speak and understanding language. Also, most hearing parents don’t know ASL or sign fluently to be able to teach their children the language and help them to start learning and be able to communicate with society. Today there are still parents that will not learn ASL even though their child is deaf or maybe they received a cochlear implant and it didn’t work. This

(n.d.). Part one: the deaf community and cochlear implants my child can have more choices: reflections of deaf mothers on cochlear implants for their children. Cochlear Implants: Evolving Perspectives. Retrieved February 09, 2018, from http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/excerpts/CIEP.html

There are many things that people in the hearing world take for granted every day, such as verbal communication, using a telephone or something as simple as the feeling you get when your favorite song comes on the radio. To a person that has been completely immersed in the deaf community, it may be easy to view the sense of sound as unnecessary. As a member of the haring community it would seem nearly impossible to live a day without sound. Cochlear implants are devices that help a person who is deaf gain hearing to some degree, and in some cases nearly full hearing. This new technology has become very controversial throughout both the hearing, and the deaf world.

The use of cochlear implants has become a very controversial topic within the deaf community. My question was inspired by the sources “Why Is Dancing So Good for Your Brain” and “from Mapping the Bilingual Brain”. Both sources mentioned sign language, which made me think about the debate over whether deaf people should receive a cochlear implant or communicate solely through sign language. The first single channel cochlear implant was introduced in 1972 as an electrical device that provides a sense of hearing to those that are “profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing” (Tallungan). Though the technology behind cochlear implants has improved, there is still a divide throughout the United States as to whether deaf individuals should receive cochlear implants or communicate solely through sign language. But, by December 2012, 58,000 adults and 38,000 children had received cochlear implant in the United States (Tallungan).

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to PBS home video “Through Deaf Eyes,” there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing (Hott, Garey & et al., 2007) . Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are over ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents. Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class.” The

We live in a world that the strive to be normal is inevitable, if you have a disability, you are told you can’t do most things, if you look different than the majority you get discriminated. Society has taken many steps back on the view of disability, especially for Deaf individuals. Deafness is viewed as a disability that needs to be fixed, due to a hearing society where hearing is the norm. With the push to “fix” deafness there is an increased likelihood that sometime in the near future with genetic testing being targeted to remove the deaf gene, deafness is at a threat of extinction, which in turn will cause the extinction of American Sign Language and the Deaf Community.

The Deaf Community has encountered a great deal of historical oppression from society that still resonates within the Community today. Recent literature has acknowledged the disconnect between the Deaf and hearing worlds, particularly in health and education settings. There are different and subtle ways in which hearing impairment can affect identity and relationships as people experiencing hearing impairment make many self-defining choices--of communication method; language; and social, cultural, and political allegiance. Additionally, the biomedical model and social model of deafness both group the hearing impaired, or the hard-of-hearing and those that are deaf into the same category, which creates misconceptions and silences individual

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group,