Jennifer
Enright
November 5, 2004
Cochlear
Implants
(Why culturally
Deaf people are against them.)
I. What Deaf people think about cochlear
implants.
a. Do they think it will affect their culture?
b. Would they have one if they had the choice?
II. When are people old enough to have an
implant?
a. Do deaf and hearing people want to give their
children the implant?
Gloria Cosgrove met with
the Metro Silent Club and discussed with them, how they felt about cochlear
implants, since most of the culturally Deaf population thinks that the
implant is trying to "destroy their culture."
"You mentioned medical practice," Gloria
said, "were you thinking about cochlear implants? Where do you stand on
that?"
"It’s a sensitive issue,"
said Jake, "If
I may speak for most of us, we don’t have a problem with cochlear implants
for adults. But for children who were born Deaf, No! It’s exposing
children to an invasive experimental surgical procedure for dubious
reasons and even more dubious results."
". . . If more and more Deaf children get
cochlear implants and are kept away from the DEAF-WORLD, that would mean
the end of the Deaf culture,"
Henry said.
"I don’t think that’s going to happen,"
Jake said, "It’s my understanding that though the procedure is very
invasive, an implant is just another kind of hearing aid, a built-in
hearing aid. When hearing aids came into vogue, Deaf culture never faded
away. Instead, we threw away the hearing aids. I think that when these
implanted kids get older, they many get angry at their parents for making
the implant decision for them when they were young. . ."
"But would any of you have one?"
Gloria
persisted.
"No!" They were all agreed, though
Laurel said
she knew of a few former classmates who were either totally in the hearing
world or marginally in the deaf, and they would do it.
(A Journey into the Deaf-World,
Harlen Lane,
Ben Bahan, Robert Hoffmeister, pg. 376)
As this quote states,
all of this club would refuse to have a cochlear implant, one member’s
parents asked her to get a cochlear implant and she didn’t speak with them
for weeks. According to the member her parents hadn’t accepted her for who
she really was. Others state that it would cause the Deaf-World to slowly
dissipate and eventually disappear altogether. Although they did say that
the cochlear implant would probably soon turn out to be just another hearing
aid, a permanent hearing aid, but none the less still a hearing aid.
FDA Requirements for Cochlear Implants
". . . candidates must be at least two years old
(the age in which specialists can verify the
severity of the child’s deafness).
(Living with
Hearing Loss, Carol Turkington, Allen E. Sussman, pg. 100)
As you can see any
deaf/partially deaf person can become eligible for an implant once they’ve
reached their second birthday. Many hearing parents apply for this procedure
as soon as their child’s second birthday arrives. The Deaf community
although would leave the child deaf to join in with the Deaf community.
"It does not seem to matter that the deaf say
again and again that they value their culture, their language, and their
world. The hearing remain perplexed. This, of course, perplexes the
DEAF-WORLD. The gulf between the two worlds engenders accusations and
recriminations. The DEAF-WORLD is accused of resisting cochlear implants
because it wants to ‘steal’ the Deaf child."
(A Journey into the Deaf World, pg. 373)
Unfortunately the more the Deaf try to defend their culture the more the
hearing world try’s to bring it down and create an all hearing world.
See the sign for: "Cochlear
Implant"