Deaf Family Finds Themselves Torn Between Deaf and Hearing Worlds (Part 1)
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there are nearly twenty eight million Americans who consider themselves deaf or “hard of hearing”. Deaf or H.O.H people are incapable of hearing what most humans take for granted, such as their loved ones’ voices, a dog’s bark, music and more. However, a surgically implanted electronic device was created in the late 1970s. The cochlear implant, otherwise known as the bionic ear, helps to provide a sense of sound to someone who is severely deaf. The cochlear implant seems like an easy fix for those who qualify, but, oddly enough, not everyone is on board with the device.
Large portions of the deaf population consider themselves as being part of a proud lifestyle. Many deaf people feel the same pride in their community as one would feel of his or her Hispanic or Asian community, for example. Although they may remain proud, plenty of people who are deaf feel almost threatened by the hearing majority. To them the cochlear implant can be seen as a way to annihilate sign language and their sense of community.
The innovative cochlear implant does not guarantee restoration of normal hearing but it does allow a person to identify sounds in his or her environment as well as another person’s voice. Eventually, an individual with a cochlear implant will most likely be able to learn to how to speak and converse in person. To outsiders (hearing people a.k.a most of the population) the rejection of what appears to be a gift of hearing will most likely remain puzzling. A deaf person really doesn’t want to gain the ability to hear? From our (hearing) perspective, this may even be considered a social deviance.
I was studying to be an ASL-interpreter at my previous school and took many classes in Deaf history and culture. (By the way, there is a distinction between Deaf and deaf; the first is part of a very close, tight-knit community that communicates primarily through sign, and the other is merely a physiological designation). It is certainly puzzling for a hearing person as to why a parent would not want to give his/her child the opportunity to hear with a cochlear implant, but as I learned more about their history and culture, I began to understand more and sympathize/empathize with their struggles.
In the U.S., ASL didn’t really reach its peak as a recognized language until the 1980’s. So imagine being a deaf person until about 30 years ago — many deaf/Deaf people were thought to be dumb simply because they couldn’t communicate with the rest of the world. Imagine trying to read lips (actually quite difficult even for hearing people if there is no context), trying to get the attention of others who will not slow down or try to help you understand what is going on… It’s no wonder that Deaf people are very protective of their language, and the place that they first felt like they were understood.
Getting a cochlear implant is not just a blatant refusal of the Deaf community, but there are a lot of medical risks that don’t get as much attention as the benefits do. Even though Deaf communities are becoming more open to deaf people of different levels of communication, there is still a strong sense of rejection when someone decides to go for an implant. It is seen as giving in to assimilation and surrendering to oppression. (Side note: hearing people can also be considered Deaf…for example, hearing individuals who grew up in Deaf families, or advocates for Deaf people, often interpreters). For years, deaf people were forced to become more like hearing people -they would get their hands slapped if they tried to sign, or forced to learn how to speak by feeling the formation of the mouth and vibrations from the throat (pretty ridiculous).
There’s actually a great TV show on ABC Family called “Switched At Birth” that demonstrates a lot of the difficulties that both hearing and Deaf people go through in trying to better understand each other. Check it out.
I’ve also become more understanding and sympathetic towards the deaf community after learning more about this great debate. I’ve seen both sides to the argument and although I understand many of the reasons as to why a deaf person would deny an implant .. I just don’t agree.. I guess I’m not in their position to FULLY understand. Thanks for the recommendation though! I’ll give the show a try!