Dividing Lines Within the Deaf Community. When some people think about dividing lines one might think about the lines

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1 Davis 1 Macey Davis Professor Overman English 155 May 1, 2007 Dividing Lines Within the Deaf Community When some people think about dividing lines one might think about the lines between ethnicities, cultures or religions. Yet, once we go deeper and analyze anyone of those there is a dividing line in each. For example, Black and White- an obvious dividing line, but when just looking at blacks who live in rich suburbs or blacks who live in the ghetto there is a dividing line or subgroup within the race itself. Being a Deaf Studies major I always enjoy observing and understanding the deaf community, but similar to all communities there is a dividing line within deaf culture. People who feel strongly about the deaf community and people not involved have extremely different views concerning a medical procedure that alters a deaf person s ability to hear: cochlear implants. Ethics, wealth, risk and benefits play a role on the deaf individual to decide whether cochlear implants should be used; both decisions will result in neglection from either the hearing world or the deaf community. Cochlear implants create a dividing line within the deaf community between those who want to cure deafness and others who are proud to be deaf. A Cochlear implant is a hearing device which assists any type of extreme or acute deafness allowing the recipient to hear sounds, noises, and vibrations to further speech and hearing skills. The big (D) Deaf community is a place where members take pride in

2 Davis 2 their deafness and embrace their newborn culture and customs. Little (d) deaf community defines those who don t feel as strongly connected with the deaf community whether it be by choice or from growing up in a hearing environment with hearing parents. This divide most likely will define whether you support cochlear implants. Although implants have only been around for twenty years, it has become seemingly popular for deaf members, who have the money, to take advantage of choosing a cochlear implant. The procedure of cochlear implants is expensive, therefore many deaf patients wanting the procedure cannot afford it. Deaf culture is diverse, but different races have privileges over the others due to money and ability to access the procedure. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education states: The relative rate of implantation of White and Asian American children was five times higher than expected on the population proportion basis than children of Hispanic origin and 10 times higher than African American Children. The white and Asian American populations are able to afford and can pursue the implantation. When reading the statistics it seems unfair to those who cannot afford it, this division makes it difficult for some of the deaf community to achieve the goal of implantation. Money does play a factor, but perhaps it has to do with acceptance as well. The Caucasian class seems to have an upper hand enabling them to receive more implants; this may also be caused by a social aspect within the white class. In the same article suggests that the class of whites who can afford the procedure will because many of them have the idea that it is a disease that needs a cure. Another possibility is the difference in attitude towards deafness middle class bias towards these matters may well be at work in the differential take-up of implantation. The middle class conforms to the idea

3 Davis 3 that they need to fix their children. Perhaps these families haven t connected with the deaf community in order to make their child involved then slightly alter their lives to be like their child s. Instead they are embarrassed because of the slight difference the child has and find a solution to the problem in order to destroy the deafness in their kid as a whole. Parents making decisions based on wealth and a social aspect hurts the youth of the deaf community. Children cannot make their own decisions if they want will want in the future to be-deaf community involved or mainstream acceptance. Surgically fixing a child makes it hard to be accepted in the deaf community later in life, this is something parents need to think about before trying to cure their child s problem. For parents to make such a bold decision as cochlear implants is basically determining the child s life. It is true that at a younger age, if received an implant will be more effective, but at the young age the child does not know what he or she wants to embrace. The article Deaf Culture, Cochlear Implants, and Elective Disability it claims: Deaf culturist argue that parents should not make decisions about cochlear implants for their deaf children, that the children should be allowed to make such decisions for themselves when they are old enough. It seems unethical for a parent to simply decide if they want cochlear implants because if a child wishes to be apart of the Deaf community when an adult, it is hard to do so once implanted. The reason for this is many activist in the Deaf community reject implants because they are in a sense killing Deaf culture, even though the child didn t decide to receive the implantation, the parents decision has now effected the rest of the deaf child s life. On the other side, many look at it as being born with a disability and feel that cochlear implants have opened up new opportunities. The Deaf Culture article

4 Davis 4 interviewed a man who received the implant and states: I am proud to be overcoming what was considered a severe handicap, proud to be part of the community as a whole, not to a club of narrow minded people. As a deaf person speaking I find this very shocking because the narrow minded people are in fact the natives to his language, the people who take pride in the being Deaf are suddenly accused of being one sided because they want to embrace their culture and lifestyle. Cochlear implant devices help, but do not completely subside deafness, this man is still deaf no matter how much he bashes the deaf community, a deaf person will always be a member. Claiming that this one procedure can do wonders is also an overstatement; many risks come along with the decision. When taking a program to learn about cochlear implants before receiving one a disclaimer is distributed to every one reading: PLEASE NOTE that we cannot accurately predict, nor guarantee, the level of speech recognition that an individual will gain from the cochlear implant procedure(emphasis original). Receiving implants may have no effect what so ever on the patient and destroy the hopes of the people who wished for a better outcome. The benefits they wished for, being able to hear babies cry, music or all noises together has been built up just to be let down. Now, is it worth having your child go through all this pain and surgery in order to just have a permanent implant that could be embarrassing feature, all for nothing? The risk that this could have on a child can be dangerous especially with a huge warning sign that this might not do anything; the risk should be reconsidered before overweighed by the smaller benefit. Going through school is a hard task even as a hearing child, but as a deaf child the challenge is much greater. There are two sides of the spectrum for this idea; first it all

5 Davis 5 depends on what school one decides to place a student in. If a deaf student were to be put into mainstream it might be considerable for the child to receive a cochlear implant because it will be vital in the friendship and receptive skills department. But, now in some cases with deaf parents who bear deaf children it is a cultural confliction they should not receive the implant. Hearing parents would be more open to their deaf child receiving an implant because they know what it is like to hear; but deaf parents who embrace their culture may feel uncomfortable about their deaf child getting an implant. In the article Disabilities Activist are Deaf to Reason it recalls a play entitled Sound and Fury, here deaf parents do not want their daughter to receive an implant because she is essentially removing herself from the deaf culture. The father of the 5-year-old daughter states: If the technology progresses, maybe it s true that deaf people will become extinct, and my heart will be broken. Technology is taking over for the Deaf community and culture is being removed by the want to hear by certain deaf individuals. The line is very thick and cannot be crossed, either you are proud to be deaf or do not care about the deaf culture and wish to be normal. Ethically Deaf people view this as wrong, and if the deaf community continues receiving implants the culture will be destroyed. The largest and most offensive part about the cochlear implant is the logic behind it, words such as condition to be cured, medical/disability, conquer deafness, and correctable. These all have a negative connotation towards deafness as if deaf people are disable and cannot function by themselves. It is not an infection that needs to be conquered; deaf communities are perfectly happy grouping up, sharing personal history, honoring their past just as any other community would do. It doesn t make sense for

6 Davis 6 people to medically erase a culture when it has been oppressed for so many years and recently now starting to view it as a unique important language. While reading an article in Business Wire it detailed the events of the Cochlear Celebration for some 1200 guests that received a cochlear implant in the last 20 years and wished to attend. This celebration was in honor of Graeme Clark, shockingly it states: The Foundation was established in 2002 in honor of Professor Graeme Clark, Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne, for his lifelong commitment to finding a solution for the hearing impaired and his pioneering work in the field of cochlear implant technology. Isn t that nice, this man spent his whole life dedicated to curing the poor deaf people, but, what I would like to know is if he bothered to ask the 90,000 deaf people across the globe with well developed stability and communities if they wanted to be cured? Judging by the parades, colleges, and even degrees to deaf studies alone shows how much the Deaf culture has impacted our society and proven to be content and embrace their birth right of silence. Uneducated parents, technology and deaf oppression are making cochlear implants socially acceptable. In reality, deaf ethics seems to be broken once we allow deaf children to be given an implant without waiting for he or she s consent at an older age and not giving the deaf community a chance. By supplying cochlear implants to millions of patients, the Deaf community will slowly be broken down and result in the extinction of deaf as a culture completely. These lines are heavily divided and morally one should think about the risk of cochlear implants not just physically but emotionally and to the community that they are perhaps ruining.

7 Davis 7 Annotated Bibliography Hyde, Merv and Power, Des. Some Ethical Dimensions of Cochlear Implantations for Deaf Children and Their Families. H.W. Wilson Company. 12 October 5005: April JSTOR. Debates about the risk and benefits of getting a cochlear implant as well as some history about what a person should know before deciding if their child should receive one. Leo, John. Disabilities Activist are Deaf to Reason. The Grand Rapids Press. 19 March April Proquest. Recalls a documentary named The Sound and the Fury which describes a deaf child s want for a cochlear implant and deaf parent s refusal because of the destruction of Deaf culture. Tucker, Bonnie. Deaf Culture, Cochlear Implants, and Elective Disability. The Hastings Center Report Jul.-Aug. 1998: April JSTOR. The opinions of Deaf/deaf people who either are against or for cochlear implants, how it connects with their culture and moral boundaries it can cross. Cochlear Implant Pioneer Graeme Clark Awards Three Scholarships at Cochlear Celebration. Business Wire. 21 Feb April Proquest. A ceremony that regroups all of the cochlear implant recipients who come together and speak about their wonderful stories. Also, to honor the man contributed to finding a cure for deafness, Professor Graeme Clark.

Good Communication Starts at Home

Good Communication Starts at Home It is important to remember the primary and most valuable thing you can do for your deaf or hard of hearing baby at home is to communicate at every available opportunity,