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 Sound and Fury
 Deaf Culture (Page 1)
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elizowen Administrator Posts: 17 |
posted 10-10-2000 09:38 AM
  
What can be done to keep deaf culture intact? Is it really under threat from cochlear implants and other technological advances? What are the chances for dialogue between signers and those with cochlear implants? |
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Lilly New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 02-05-2001 03:04 PM
The fact is there's no way to stop technology from progressing towards implants. For those who are trying to preserve deaf culture, the only option is to work within the parameters of the technology. It is important though, that parents of implanted children accept that although their child has an implant, they are still deaf. I feel these parent should not isolate their children from other deaf children and should ensure that all doors are open. |
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Reverie New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 02-17-2001 04:04 AM
I think CI is a threat to Deaf Culture. The reason is that most deaf babies have hearing parents who assume immediately deaf is a disability to be fixed, and implant them. To preserve Deaf Culture, Deaf people need to educate the hearing parents on the need to accept their childs deafness, and let their child the chance to make their own decision when they are old enough. |
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meinnoc New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 02-25-2001 03:40 PM
quote:  What exactly is it about Deaf Culture that needs preserving? Do you mean the language ASL? Is that all? Or do you mean the militant anti-hearing people attitude? What do you mean by Deaf Culture? |
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Theresa B. Smith Member Posts: 3 |
posted 03-16-2001 02:40 AM
What is at risk is not the culture itself but the deaf children's access to the culture. Culture cannot be learned overnight. Children with a hearing loss (and those with cochlear implants will still have a hearing loss) need a culture that provides them with time tested strategies for living a happy life. When deaf people say they do not accept those with cochlear implants they do not mean the children, deaf people have always accepted their children, children who have been deprived of ASL by well intentioned but misguided hearing poeple. Deaf people reject the attitude behind the implants. |
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nbinder Member Posts: 2 |
posted 01-08-2002 12:52 PM
As the proud mother of a 24-year-old deaf son (and who has seen the film), my opinion is that deaf culture and the language of ASL IS worth preserving. I was devastated when I learned my younger son would be deaf but over the years I have seen his life enriched by the language of signs and Deaf culture. My main problem with the family in the film is this: The hearing son is given the right to make decisions for his child, but the deaf son is not. I'm not saying to ban Cochlear Implants or that they don't help some people, but I'm just saying respect the rights of people to decide what is best for THEIR child. I happen to work at a school for the Deaf and would like to note that we have several deaf students who have had cochlear implants -- but I wonder if the implants work so well, why are these kids still in a deaf school?? |
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Judas Member Posts: 5 |
posted 01-08-2002 02:19 PM
I have a daughter that is 2 and a niece that is 20 months old. My niece is deaf and both their parents are also. I am hearing and so is my wife but I am teaching my daughter ASL where my wife is teaching Spanish. My niece has far surpassed my daughter in her development due to the fact that her parents sign all the time. She has a vocabulary of over 200 words at 20 months. Explain to me where a surgery that puts unnecessary risk to a child will help them function in a "Hearing World" that is crap. I think it comes down to simplistics the hearing parents are lazy and choose to not learn the natural language of their children due to the fact that they are deaf. Deaf is not another word for broken. Deaf is not a disability it is not a ethnic it is a being learn about it and embrace it. That is what life is all about, don't change things that are not understood just because you lack the drive to learn about it or are too lazy to put forth the effort of learning a new language. That language is not one that the child picked but it is what is most natural for deaf. All that effort is for your child to communicate with your child. Again your child not a deaf child don't loose aspect of that. |
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Renee Member Posts: 2 |
posted 01-08-2002 04:12 PM
You are hearing and so is your wife. You have a hearing child. YOU HAVE never been in the shoes of a parent who has a child who is deaf. Yet you take it upon yourself to call parents LAZY??? Well, sir I can assure you I am the least lazy parent of all. I have been to so many audiology appoinments and therapy sessions with my child that I have lost count. I have a teacher of the deaf come to my house every week. I stay up every night to learn sign language so my one year old can communicate. Have you ever had to learn a language over night so you can start to talk with your child? You are swimming in the prolific stereotype put forth by some anti-cochlear implant individuals and it is sad. You have never sat in a sound booth with your sleeping child in your lap and had some stranger tell you that your child is profoundly deaf. You have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to judging another parent's decisions. How pathetic that people like you chastise other parents. I wonder if your child were to go blind, would you deny a laser surgery to restore sight? What if your child contracted cancer and they had to take her leg? Would you deny her a prosthesis? After all, she isn't "broken". Maybe the scientific community should take Stephen Hawkins computer voice away. After all, we shouldn't be allowed to use technological aids right? Or is it only against the rules to use a cochlear implant. Why is it the deaf feel like their culture is so much better than the blind culture or the folks who are relagated to wheel chairs because their legs have failed them. Do they feel like elitists? I have heard it a million times. My child won't fit into either world with an implant. That just makes me laugh out loud at the absolute shallowness of the comment. She will be defined by the environment and culture in which she is raised. Her family and her surroundings will define her personality. She can really be anyone she wants to be. Of course, there will be those out there who see her implant and slam the door in her face. So be it. They will miss out a beautiful heart. You know, the day I found out she was deaf I was told she and we would be embraced by the "deaf community". Well, that is we will be embraced until we mention that she is an implant candidate. Once you mention that, they frown and start to scold us. Thank God we have met a lot of deaf individuals who did embrace us and my child is surrounded by these loving people. For those of you who make judgement calls, you need to wake up. |
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zanex Member Posts: 2 |
posted 01-08-2002 06:37 PM
heh heh heh..ahhh this is an old old discussion..the ever popular "hearing v. deaf cochlear issue" god I love it..heh heh...I myself have deaf parents, a deaf wife and am immersed within deaf culture and a lot of what judas says isnt too far off the mark...I have met many many hearing parents that just wud rather just as soon get their deaf "disabled" children in those speech and audiological classes than learn sign language it is a sad thing but it is the majority in todays society. Its a hearing world and for those old school offspring of those old world deafys it isnt a pretty sight...yet there are those parents that DO take the time to learn sign language and I applaud them for that effort but in order to preserve Deaf culture much more has to be done. Technology is a threat to all deafys worldwide..."deafocide" as I like to call it looms on the horizon. I went through those speech therapy classes growing up and I went to all those audiologists growing up and all those hearing kids I remember making fun of me cuz my voice didnt sound right and I can HEAR. Going home to my deaf parents was like a warm blanket...the deaf culture to me MUST be preserved. Cochlear implants may be right for older hearing people that have lost their hearing later in life but to implant a child....nothing sounds more cruel to me...wiping out deaf culture before it has even had a chance to grow...to me it is comparable to aborting the deaf side of a child....thats me...I'm sure ill be back posting on this site.. |
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starchild10 New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-08-2002 10:28 PM
Why were so many of those against implants wearing glasses? What happend to the importance of Blurry Vision Culture? If ocular implants were available, would the blind opt out in favor of a Braile Culture? |
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Wen Member Posts: 3 |
posted 01-08-2002 10:34 PM
REPLY: When they are old enough learning speech is much harder and it may be too late. I agree parents should accept that their child is "deaf" and I believe they should encourage sign language lessons also. Because what if one day the implant gives out? They'd be lost. But why do people feel that we need to PRESERVE the deaf culture? Wouldn't it be wonderful if deafness could be cured? Tell me of one person that is soooo happy that they can't hear anything. Should a child with Muscular Dystrophy continue to deteriorate and end up in a wheelchair if there's a cure? Should people born with chemical imbalances such as depression or ADHD not seek medicine to help them live a "normal" life? Should they not seek a cure for many debilitating conditions? Why is it such a terrible thing? IT'S A MIRACLE!!!!
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Wen Member Posts: 3 |
posted 01-08-2002 10:52 PM
REPLY: I agree with you 100%! You aren't doing it for yourself...you are doing it because you love your child and want them to have every opportunity in life. Why wouldn't a parent want that. You're not denying her or that she's deaf. If deaf people feel differently after they know she has an implant... then they are just as prejudiced as some hearing people. "If they aren't 100% like us then they are not accepted" We should all be happy for each other.. not jealous of another because they may have an advantage in life. Why purposefully let your child live in a silent world when there is a choice. God created the world... And yes God created children ....but God also created man with a brain to invent and find cures.
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CliffOwashtinong Member Posts: 2 |
posted 01-08-2002 10:56 PM
quote: Deaf culture will survive for there are those - hearing and non-hearing - who understand that is completely acceptable and "normal" to maintain a state of being that one was born with. People must simply be given the freedom to choose without the pressure of chauvinistic-like hearing people or institutions trying to explain what "normal" or genetically superior is. Reminds me of recent American Indian history where the Lakota were not allowed to Sun Dance or speak their native tongue because it was not civilized or Christian or eugenically/racially superior. The hearing people (and deaf people) talking about 'normal' and the best possible life didn't understand and couldn't appreciate deaf culture (or hearing abilities). But it was overwhelmingly clear - at least via the perspectives stated in the documentary - that many hearing folk and their institutions were explicitly or implicitly patronizing. The choice for implants should be allowed by parents and children without duress and legal pressure and schooling should both include hearing speech and ASL. Deaf culture will survive and is a testament to the vital and integral diversity that the human race and its various cultures maintain. |
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mark cosby New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-08-2002 11:00 PM
Dear Thirteen/WNET, I had a lot to say but I think Renee (posted 1-8-2002) got to the heart of the matter. However, I do have a few things to ask and several comments. In the program, one deaf individual said, "If your born deaf, that's it". What an interesting concept. If a deaf person needed a heart transplant, would he/she only accept a donor heart from a deaf person? If deaf parents had a child with juvenile diabetes or sickle cell anemia, would they say, "that's it", or would they seek the best medical treatment available? What is the "deaf culture" anyway? Are the deaf somehow a different sub-species of Homo sapiens? Is there a "blind culture", or a "left handed culture"? If I try to speak to a South American, who only speaks Spanish, and I only speak English, aren't we both deaf? Finally, to Peter and his wife, who were so vehemently against CI for their child; after you move to the cozy, deaf society in Frederick, MD, and your daughter grows up in this sheltered, deaf community, will you ever let her out? Face it, you are not protecting any "deaf culture", you are hiding from your own petty foibles. Any time you fail, you can always blame it on the "hearing culture". Sincerely, Mark Cosby |
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photonj Member Posts: 2 |
posted 01-08-2002 11:14 PM
quote: I'm not trying to be sick or offensive but please understand that this is what arguments against treating deaf people can seem like to 'hearing' people. If you want us to understand you will have to explain it more because the way you are communicating it now makes no sense. I'm not talking about CI in particular; if parents are concerned about the risk of surgery or don't beleive that the technology is mature yet of course they would be extremely reluctant. And for older people that have been deaf their whole life, it is to be expected that since they have established relashionships, and especially because it can be much harder to learn a new language as you get older, the option is hardly enticing. What baffles me is the desire to make sure that deaf kids stay that way. Imagine you are a German immagrent in America in the 18 or early 1900s. You have tried to learn English but failed. When you are ridiculed by people who speak a different language than you, you move to a German community. There you find support from others having the same experiance. This works very well. But what if you then had a child? Should that child be sheltered from English, or pushed to learn it? I have heard the argument that deaf parents will not be able to understand their children, but I find it hard to beleive that children cannot learn two languages. You might say that the deaf community is different from the German community I described. Of course it is, the German can listen to music, the German can hear a siren, the German can listen to the radio. To say that being deaf is not a disability is obsurd, yet it is the foundation of the whole argument for not healing deaf people. That is why deaf people tend to get very animated and defensive when they argue that deaf culture is not less than 'hearing' culture, but just different. Obviously the argument hinges on this because if parents chose not to allow their disabled children to be cured, it would be completely unethical and immoral. I have heard the argument from parents that they are afraid that their children would be ridiculed at school because of the large awkward receiver stuck to the child's head. I beleive this is one of the more valid arguments I have heard, along with not wanting to risk surgery and not trusting the technology. Without knowing too much about CI specifically I would guess that this technology will be virtually completely safe and effective, and will fit inside the ear before very long. Technology is still advancing and miniturizing at a blindingly fast pace. Especially medical technology. With gene and stem cell research we may not even need CI in the future. It might seem archaic in 20 years that we actually took microphones and plugged them into the brains of deaf people. CIs will be in museums next to those awfull looking 18th century surgical tools that we cringe at today. I'm not at all upset when deaf people old enough to choose, choose not use CI, I would probably make the same choice if I had grown up deaf. What saddens me are the parents that say 'we're going to wait until he/she can make the choice for themself.' Of course by the time the child is old enough to even understand the choice, it is too late. To start over in terms of language would put them frighteningly behind their peers. And they will not learn nearly as fast. CI is something that by nature of the way we learn needs to be done right away, if at all. |
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fishgetter Member Posts: 2 |
posted 01-08-2002 11:33 PM
Our son was born autistic. We used sign language to help him learn to communicate, and this greatly aided his speech development. We didn't take the attitude I keep seeing posted here of "he was born that way -embrace it - don't change it!" We do embrace it, my wife and I love him more than life - and that is why we have put so much effort into trying to help him overcome autism - to "change it". He will be 7 next week, and has advance beyond our hopes. If were my son born deaf I would do all I could to help him overcome it. People like Judas - calling parents like me lazy - I don't get it. We learned sign language, and I would venture to say we have spent more time and money trying to help our son overcome autism than Judas has teaching sign language to his daughter. And I would imagine many of the parents who have opted for the implant have gone through more soul searching, thought, time, and money trying to gain hearing for their children than Judas has teaching sign language. I read posted here: If these people found a cure for deafness they would break it, burn it, and bury it so it would never be found. I wonder - would they do the same for blindess, or autism? I hear. I don't think I'm better than a deaf person. Though I see I don't think I'm better than a blind person. And I don't think I'm better than an autistic person - I actually think I'm probably somewhat autistic myself. I think I have been given the sense of smell, sight, sound, touch, etc.... And to purposefully deny the hope of these senses to one who does not have it, because one wants to preserve the culture of "not having it" is cultural selfishness. |
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richardb New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-08-2002 11:46 PM
What exactly is it about Deaf Culture that needs preserving? Do you mean the language ASL? Is that all? Or do you mean the militant anti-hearing people attitude? What do you mean by Deaf Culture?[/B][/QUOTE] As an ASL/English interpreter, I know of the confusion of which you speak. It is very hard for us hearing folks to understand how people of one culture (hearing) could give birth to a child of a different culture (Deaf). Secondly, we see American Sign Language and we immediately equate the American with English syntax. (ASL has a grammar different from English.) If we accept ASL to be a foreign language, then we must accept those users to have their own culture. (Not just profoundly deaf but anyone growing up in an all ASL environment). So what do Deaf parents do when they find out their child is hearing? Do they tell the doctor to remove the baby's hearing? *That* would be an anti-hearing move. *That* would erradicate hearing culture for that child. Instead, the parents accept the child's hearing status for what it is. The child is allowed to maintain his hearing culture with his Deaf culture. My acceptance of Deaf culture only came because I learned (and am still learning) a second language. And learning ASL only happened because I already had a native tongue/culture: American English and Deaf people accepted that part of me. If we want Deaf people to learn about our culture, maybe we should help preserve *their* language and culture. Kudos to all of those Deaf and hearing people who have helped me along in my journey. Keep the discussion goin'! Richard [This message has been edited by richardb (edited 01-09-2002).] |
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moonrose777 New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-09-2002 12:12 AM
I am shocked at the selfishness shown by parents who belong to the "deaf culture". I would like to ask them what their attitude would be if they had a child who was born blind? Visually impaired persons are comfortable with feeling their way thru life. Do you think their children should be the same? My mother-in-law was blind for the first 20 years of her life and then had surgery that enabled her to see. It opened a whole new world to her and she would not have gone back to her blind world for anything. You would deprive your children from the joy of hearing because you don't want to lose your culture? Mozart continued to write music for the hearing world after he had lost his hearing because he knew that sound and music is one of God's greatest gifts to mankind. Your attitude reminds me of parents who do not want their children to learn English as they will lose their ethnic individuality. If that attitude would have prevailed, most of us would be speaking a language most of our contacts in the world would not understand. You are limiting your children's future because you are limited. How unfair! I am glad I am not your child. Do you not see that the young woman whose twin son was deaf is still able and willing to be a part of your culture? If your culture is worth being a part of, the children will be there. Why do you think so many hearing people learn to sign. We know you need all the channels available to function in the general population. Your children can be the best ambassadors in the world to help you. Give them that chance. No one will be of service to you like someone who loves you. You have done a terrible disservice to your culture. Now we know how limited your minds are. |
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dan_meyers Member Posts: 3 |
posted 01-09-2002 12:23 AM
In response to nbinder's comment of "if the implants work so well, why are the kids still in deaf schools?" Yes, the implants do work VERY well, but not without the therapy and education to back them up. You don't just get an implant and that's it. The implant is a tool which the recipient must learn to use. My daughter (who was born deaf and has an implant) has been attending an oral program at a preschool for deaf children, and she is now speaking and hearing very well, and will be attending mainstream public kindergarten next year, right on schedule. |
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djxpat New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-09-2002 12:56 AM
I just finished watching Sound and Fury. It was as educational as it was frustrating. For a while, I was beginning to wonder if I was watching Springer. Constant insult and yelling in both directions. It seemed as though both sides had made up their minds about the other side, and there seemed to be few attempts at understanding between the hearing "mainstream" and the Deaf Culture. I am a hearing person, and I don't know anyone who is deaf. Please don't tell me, "You don't understand what it means to be deaf." You're right. I don't understand. It doesn't mean that I can't have a valid opinion on the subject. Is Deaf Culture threatened? I'd say it's as threatened as any other minority culture. But I think to put all of the blame on CI is a simplification. Some of the hearing parents in the film talked about giving their children the benefit of both cultures. But they seemed to quickly sacrifice things important to deaf culture for the benefit of improved speech. On the other hand, the deaf parents didn't seem to want their children to have anything to do with hearing. Why is CI a rejection of you deaf identity? That may sound like a stupid question, but this film made it seem like a question of bitterness and politics, not of experience. Why can't a deaf person experience the hearing world with CI and still retain his or her deaf identity? If you want to, why can't you sign at home or with friends and speak with the hearing? My mother's Filipino, my father is Indian, but he speaks an African language. I grew up between cultures. I was never made to choose between them. I was raised to take advantage of what mainstream American culture had to offer, but I never felt that I was rejecting my Indian or Filipino identity. I know it's not the same thing, but I'm talking about walking both sides of the fence. Many of my cousins and friends learned English as a second language. They started as "ESL rejects." But I think they have an advantage being bilingual or trilingual. When they learned to speak "proper English" at school, they didn't give up or betray their Filipino identities. I understand that there is frustration about losing your minority culture to the mainstream. I watch my friends go to war with their families over it every day. The kids who are made to reject one culture always end up resenting the other, or they end up harboring a huge guilt complex. The ones who get to experience both cultures without having to choose seem the happiest. I know the deaf culture vs. CI dilemma is not exactly the same as the multiracial, multiethnic or old world vs. new world thing. But a lot of the anger, the sense of betrayal, the bitterness, and the fear is the same. I find the insults and the "other" mentality is ultimately self-perpetuating and creates a lot more misery than necessary. The gap seems really wide between the hearing and the deaf. People on both sides need to be willing to narrow that gap instead of treating each other as "disabled." As for the "cure," I don't think it's as harmful as some people in the film made it out to be. As a hearing person, I would recommend getting the implant to someone if asked my opinion. It's not a question of normal to me, or helping the disadvantaged. It's about getting to experience hearing. But my opinion is only as good as a hearing person's. Anyway, my parents are both losing their hearing to old age. They both have hearing aids that they never use. They probably never will use them. For them, there's more to communication than hearing improved by an expensive piece of plastic. Blah blah blah... --Erik |
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csm New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-09-2002 02:10 AM
I don't really understand the idea of a separate deaf culture. Where do these people live? do they keep all to themselves? I don't know a single deaf person and never have, but I would be perfectly willing to accept them. I don't see why we can't live and work together. I believe it would enrich every hearing person's life to know someone who communicates with sign language, just as it is wonderful and exciting to communicate with anyone who speaks a different language. I realize this is an idealistic view, but don't we have to be a bit idealistic if we expect things to change? On another subject, I can't understand why anyone would deny their child the experience of hearing a bird sing, or the ocean roar, or a symphony, I certainly wouldn't want to live without that. |
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kevinthegreat New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-09-2002 04:47 AM
hello all I just finished ASL 3. We read voices from a culture, which explains how hearing parents can some time force deaf children into a hearing world. I think the implants do get rid of deaf culture, uf the kids can hear, and can't sign, because singing is the way to keep the culture going. They are average people in residential schoola, were they may not be in hearing schools. I can't say since I have only taken 3 sign courses, and don't have a deaf child. I also don't know what it is like to be deaf, but I am not trying to force them to be like me, wiping out their culture is like wiping out a race and that is wrong, they should have the option for the implant if they want it. I think people should forces them we don't know how it is for them, it's like me saying I know what it's like as an African American, which I am not, they should leave their own life. They should have that option as adults as hearing adults do. |
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Kevbo New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-09-2002 06:44 AM
I'm still not sure what deaf culture is. No one here has offered an explanation. So far deaf culture simply seems like a bunch of really angry and perhaps close minded people. I am not a part of deaf culture so my view of it is limited of course. I recognize a gathering of people who share a disability or difference can be comforting but is there anything else to deaf culture than comfort or support? I like the analogies of other disabilities that have been presented here. Why is deafness different or something anyone would want to preserve unlike blindness? How about taste or smell? Those are important senses, arguably as enjoyable or necessary as hearing in different walks of life. I too have never heard of a culture of blind people who would deny a young person the chance to see for fear that they would not be a part of the blind world. Educationally, deafness seems to be the most difficult sensory handicap to overcome or compensate for. Sign language does not lend itself easily to technical fields and deafness naturally limits career choices presuming a decent level of education has been achieved at all. The deaf people I have known have always wanted to hear better. They long to have had the opportunity for aid in hearing and learning that today's deaf children do. Why must deaf culture be closed to those who suddenly hear? Why is it so passionately assumed all suddenly hearing enabled children or people will detach from other deaf people? To object to a deaf person's opportunity to be able to hear simply because they will allegedly be removed from deaf culture is one of the most selfish things I've heard of. I cerainly hope there is more to it than that. I can't imagine a child not being given the chance to hear so many important things. I am a better person and I am alive because of things I have heard... because of car horns I have heard at the last moment when I entered a street without looking... because of music that I have made or that I have heard that has enriched my soul and tied me to others... because I can hear all the sounds that nature offers... because I can do almost anything I want because I can hear. I cannot think of field of occupation that are closed to me because I can hear. Yet I can think of many many jobs I cannot have if I were deaf. I would have my child implanted if it only meant that their life would not end at some random time simply because they couldn't hear the sounds of something dangerous approaching. I have only been deaf for very short periods of time (days, week at a time) due to health reasons during my life and that is not like being truly deaf but I tend to think that if the average deaf person could simply have 30 seconds worth of wind, birds chirping, thunder, Beethoven's 9th, a loved one whispering "I love you" while you fell asleep and more, they might rethink the holiness of their "deaf culture." A common gathering or social group of similarly disabled people is a wonderful thing to have. I have in the past enjoyed the company of other people who share the same problems, physical or mental, that I have or had. But there is obviously a goal to not need to seek the company of other with similar disabilities. There is nothing sad about not needing support any more and most support groupers envy and applaud those who are able to move on through therapy, surgery or circumstance. I'm puzzled by the response of the deaf people in the PBS special to the opportunities that would be created for the children we observer. Thank you for interacting and exchanging ideas with me here. - Kevbo |
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wow! New Member Posts: 1 |
posted 01-09-2002 03:53 PM
In The Sound and The Fury, I noticed that the Deaf families' children wore hearing aids--why is that okay, but cochlear implants aren't? Heather's communicated desire to hear birds, the sound of wood being sawed, cars crashing, a baby crying, etc. was heartbreaking; the point made by Heather's grandfather was well-taken: getting a cochlear implant was okay for Heather provided her mother could get one first. When it was discovered that her mother would not be a good candidate for the procedure, the family no longer chose to support their daughter's desire to be able to independently communicate with the larger, non-deaf world. If Heather's mother would remain deaf, so would she. I think that Heather's parents are guilty of committing malpractice. |
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craigup Member Posts: 3 |
posted 01-09-2002 04:14 PM
I agree what is to be preserved, I have a daughter that is going to be 2 this month, she is totally deaf. We are pushing the cochlear implant really hard with the doctors.If my girl has a chance to hear and have all the benefits of life, I would feel like I was abusing her if I didnt do what was best. It is year 2002 get with it about everything can be fixed now, and any parent that doesnt want the kind to achieve maximum goals in life are wrong. What if I did wait until she was 12 and she did want them she would have to start all over again with alot of stuff. The parents that wouldnt get them for their daughter are being selfish, expecting their daughter to live their way, there nothing wrong with the deaf culture, but give your daughter everything you can in life. quote: As an ASL/English interpreter, I know of the confusion of which you speak. It is very hard for us hearing folks to understand how people of one culture (hearing) could give birth to a child of a different culture (Deaf). Secondly, we see American Sign Language and we immediately equate the American with English syntax. (ASL has a grammar different from English.) If we accept ASL to be a foreign language, then we must accept those users to have their own culture. (Not just profoundly deaf but anyone growing up in an all ASL environment). So what do Deaf parents do when they find out their child is hearing? Do they tell the doctor to remove the baby's hearing? *That* would be an anti-hearing move. *That* would erradicate hearing culture for that child. Instead, the parents accept the child's hearing status for what it is. The child is allowed to maintain his hearing culture with his Deaf culture. My acceptance of Deaf culture only came because I learned (and am still learning) a second language. And learning ASL only happened because I already had a native tongue/culture: American English and Deaf people accepted that part of me. If we want Deaf people to learn about our culture, maybe we should help preserve *their* language and culture. Kudos to all of those Deaf and hearing people who have helped me along in my journey. Keep the discussion goin'! Richard [This message has been edited by richardb (edited 01-09-2002).][/B][/QUOTE] |
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