Deaf Population's Stand on Cochlear Thesis

Sign language is one of the most important elements of deaf communication, and losing this element frightens and outrages some members of the deaf community.

In addition, many deaf people feel that the rehabilitation necessary after implant surgery is often neglected or not budgeted for, and so, it is not managed effectively, and the implants are not used to their full potential. In addition, the implants do not miraculously cure deafness, what implanted patients experience is a reduced and altered sense of sounds and speech at best. Some patients have described the voice as "robotic," and the device will never allow people to hear the same way that a non-deaf person hears. This is another reason the deaf community is against the implants. They believe they make a deaf person even more "handicapped," to put it one way, because they do not fit in either world. They cannot hear the way "normal" people hear, and they can hear better than many deaf people, so they do not really fit in either community, making them an outcast in both. Many deaf organizations decry implants, equating them to genocide or abuse. Another author notes, "Cochlear implants on young healthy deaf children is a form of communication, emotional, and mental abuse' (Canadian Association of the Deaf, 1994)" (Harvey 337). Thus, the people that seem to benefit the most from these implants are the people that seem to shun them the most. While they have helped at least some people enter the hearing world, there is still much research and study that needs to be done to find out how they really affect hearing, especially in children, and how they really affect language and speech abilities.

In conclusion, cochlear implants have helped thousands of profoundly deaf people "hear" again. They can recognize sounds and speech with the implants, and they can develop speech and language themselves. However, many people in the deaf community oppose cochlear implants, because they believe their deafness is not something that should be artificially tampered with or cured. Cochlear implants are becoming more acceptable to at least some members of the deaf community, however, and it seems clear that these implants will continue to improve in the future, and continue to provide new opportunities for the profoundly deaf and hard-of-hearing.

References

Blamey, Peter J. "17 Development of Spoken Language by Deaf Children." Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education. Ed. Marc Marschark and Patricia Elizabeth Spencer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 232-246.

Glickman, Neil S., and Sanjay Gulati, eds. Mental Health Care of Deaf People: A Culturally Affirmative Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.

Harkins, Judith E., and Matthew Bakke. "29 Status and Trends." Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education. Ed. Marc Marschark and Patricia Elizabeth Spencer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 406-419.

Harvey, Michael a. "9 Does God Have a Cochlear Implant?." Mental Health Care of Deaf People: A Culturally Affirmative Approach. Ed. Neil S. Glickman and Sanjay Gulati. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. 327-346.

Leybaert, Jacqueline, and Jesus Alegria. "19 the Role of Cued Speech in Language Development of Deaf Children." Oxford Handbook of Deaf…