Cochlear implants are devices that can assist a deaf person in being able to hear sounds and make communication easier with hearing people. Once someone recieves a Cochlear implant there are months and perhaps year of training they need to go through in order to be able to hear and speak correctly. These devices are becoming more and more popular as they gain media coverage. There are many risks with the surgery to recieve a cochlear implane, as there are with any surgery. I don't object to adults or teenagers deciding to recieve one but i do not agree with hearing parents deciding to put their deaf child under the knife just so that they can be hear and be "normal." I think it is wrong for hearing parents to make decisions for their deaf children that could perhaps ruin their life. I think that instead of automatically deciding to have a child go in for surgery, the family of the deaf child should learn American Sign Language. I know of 3 children with cochlear implants all 3 of them have fallen behind in school. Two of the three have limited hearing with their implant and one has no hearing whatsoever. I think that many parents may not be fully aware of the options for deaf children. Just becuase a child is deaf does not mean they are handicapped. there are so many other options that do not require going under the knife (ASL, Lip reading, hearing aids, aigned english). Many teenagers who recieved cochlear implants as children wish that they hadn't. They often wish that they had learned ASL, and that they became involved in the Deaf culture. For those who's implant doesn't work they are not accepted in the hearing culture becuase of the way they talk and they may not be accepted into the Deaf culture becuase they do not know ASL and they did recieve a cochlear implant.
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You are absolutely correct. Cochlear implants do not make Deaf children "normal". They are not handicapped in the first place.
A Deaf child may have a bit of a tougher time than a hearing child in the hearing world, but they have an entire culture unto themselves.
I recently saw a documentary about Deaf children with cochlear implants, and one was not even aware that she was deaf in the first place. How sad, to be denied her culture!
My ASL teacher knows a Deaf young man that had a cochlear implant when he was a child, but now chooses not to wear it, fully embracing his Deaf culture.
Children can truly be detrimented by a cochlear implant and not accepted into any culture. Cochlear implants are not a cure-all.