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American Sign Language and Deaf Culture: Cochlear Implants:
BillVicars@ wrote:
In a message dated 6/20/2005 7:38:09 AM Pacific
Daylight Time, jonathan@ writes:
Many thanks....yeah, that's cool
you're open to technology. I think that implantation, like if I
had a deaf child, would be used first along with a serious
foundation in Spoken English. After 3 years, the mapping process
is over and you can have a full awareness of their hearing's
limitation with the implant. I know several deaf children with
perfect hearing and speech who were implanted early, no ASL.
That's a success. If the implantation were not a success, I
would gladly teach them ASL to work around the implant's
limitations and I know many deaf people who sign primarily but
who have an implant like a high tech hearing aid, and that it
grants them more independence (better speech, better English
skills, not needing an interpreter as often).
As a Deaf man, you've been rather
kind, considering many ASL-purists I know who are 40+ are very
harsh towards parents/children who choose implantation. I hang
out with them a lot, and they consider ASL-residential
schools-Deaf pride the right way to go in raising a deaf child,
no matter how successful thingsl ike Cued Speech, Signed
English, implants, mainstreaming, etc. They often diss and lash
out at people who do not do it THEIR way (ie, the RIGHT
way) They claim Deafness is not a disability (I would disagree)
and to be proud of being Deaf, and often feel as if people who
grew up oral are either pathetically isolated or total snobs.
Times are changing, there's no need to adhere to
the ASL-purists rules all the time with all deaf people, and
if deaf people choose to become hearing, that's their business.
I don't see why the Deaf community feels they have a monopoly on
deafness and deaf people, that their approach to life is
automatically the correct one...
Anyway, off my soapbox, thanks for
being so open! I've just been rather infuriated as several good
friends have just implanted their 2 yo son and the wife is
hanging on her last nerve from all the cruel things Deaf people
have said and done to her about her decision. Considering these
people are also my friends, It's a rather controversial issue
jst in my own mind.
~*fingerspelling* j-o-n-a-t-h-a-n
I think
nearly all parents of nearly all children (hearing or deaf) should begin
teaching their child both spoken and signed language from birth. It is now
a well documented fact that infants can begin effectively communicating via
sign language much earlier than they can via spoken language. The vast
majority of research and documentation I've seen also points to the fact
that learning ASL actually facilitates the acquisition of spoken language.
This is due to the fact that ASL promotes early cognitive development which
in turn supports concurrent and later English acquisition.
This
belief isn't about "ASL purism" it is about providing the child (whether
hearing or deaf) with the maximum communication resources for his or her
mental development.
If only
learning to speak were as easy for a Deaf child as it is for a hearing
child. But it isn't. So the concept of opportunity cost comes into play.
It is indeed possible for a blind man to become an expert at hitting a
distant target with a bow and arrow. To do so he would need to try and fail
many, many times. It might take him years, but sure enough, eventually he
could hit the target fairly regularly. The question is, what opportunities did that man miss
during those years of practicing hitting an unseen target? How many clocks
could he have built, or clients could he have counseled, or bedtime stories
could he have told? How many parties could he have gone to? How much fun
could he have had or good could he have done? Focusing on developing that
particular skill cost him a huge amount in terms of lost opportunities. What
if he tried for years to become good at archery but never succeeded? Perhaps
he would have been better off using his time more effectively? Similarly
perhaps it is better for Deaf children to spend their time more effectively
by learning ASL instead of trying to hit a target they can't see? Or
rather--voice a target they can't hear? Who is to say that it isn't better
to fully participate in a very small world than to marginally participate in
a very large world.
Now, about
cochlear implants, consider the progress of computer processors from the
early eighties to today. Back in 1981 IBM came out with an "8088" chip that
clocked in at about 4.77 MHz. If you are not familiar with the term
hertz, it is a way of measuring how many operations a computer can cycle
through per second. One hertz equals one "operation" per second or the
ability of the computer to process one instruction per second. One
megahertz, or MHz, is roughly equal to a million operations per second. A
gigahertz, or GHz, is roughly a billion cycles per second.
Over a
period of 25 years single-chip commercially available processors progressed
from 4 MHz to 4 GHz. Which is to say they became literally
a thousand times faster. During the
next 25 years we are going to see a continued phenomenal advance in
computing technology. The cochlear implants of today will seem like mere
toys compared to the technological marvels that our children
and grandchildren will be designing.
Dr.
Bill
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