CI - is it one way or the other only ??

Audiofuzzy

Audiofuzzy

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I was wondering if having CI implanted causes one to choose who to be - a deaf person and thus belong to the deaf culture, or
in order to receive the best possible results, to forsake the deaf and their world and be with hearing people only?

And what about very young children implanted - say at two years of age - should they be separated from deaf culture and avoid sign language at all cost, or
is it safe for them to grow up in deaf culture beacuse by being "outside" with hearing children and other people they will learn how to speak anyway?

I am very very interested in your opinion.

Fuzzy
 
Important is follow your heart either you want to have CI or not.

It's your own decision, not everyone.

I really never thought to pull the children to hearing world because they are CI. CI would never improve to hear again because it stay deaf.

I let my children mix with hearing, CI and deaf because I want my children to learn their experience what their cultures are.

I find sad that the children don't know what deaf is if the parents pull CI children to hearing world because they are hearing, not their child. Well, I respect their decision but for me, no.
 
Audiofuzzy said:
I was wondering if having CI implanted causes one to choose who to be - a deaf person and thus belong to the deaf culture, or
in order to receive the best possible results, to forsake the deaf and their world and be with hearing people only?

And what about very young children implanted - say at two years of age - should they be separated from deaf culture and avoid sign language at all cost, or
is it safe for them to grow up in deaf culture beacuse by being "outside" with hearing children and other people they will learn how to speak anyway?
Click to expand...

Whoa, I have to state that your question is rather biased. You have the perception that the hearing world is better, and being with hearing people is simply the best. I think your question is rather unfair and offensive, with little or no insight into the wonderful world of the deaf community.
 
I'm sorry if you misunderstood the question, perhaps I wasn't clear enough.

What I mean by "best possible results" is that by staying with only hearing people a person with CI is having an extensive exposure to speech and must practice speech and listening at all times,
which, I suppose is not that extensive in deaf world.

I am not saying hearing world is better.

And I do not understand this:

>>>CI would never improve to hear again because it stay deaf.<<<

I was under an impression that the whole point of CI is the ability to hear (via implant)?



Fuzzy
 
Audiofuzzy said:
I was wondering if having CI implanted causes one to choose who to be - a deaf person and thus belong to the deaf culture, or
in order to receive the best possible results, to forsake the deaf and their world and be with hearing people only?

And what about very young children implanted - say at two years of age - should they be separated from deaf culture and avoid sign language at all cost, or
is it safe for them to grow up in deaf culture beacuse by being "outside" with hearing children and other people they will learn how to speak anyway?

I am very very interested in your opinion.

Fuzzy
Click to expand...

Growing up, I was not allowed to socialize in deaf community or learn sign language. Thus, I developed excellent lipreading and speechreading skills. But I lacked a sense of identity until I picked up ASL in my late 20's. Since then, I have plunged into the world of ASL and Deaf culture. As a result, my speech has worsened and I forget how to pronounce certain words now. I even lost tolerance in lipreading and demand that people around me use sign language etc. My family now knows how to use signs because I told them one day that I am worn out from lipreading all these years and it is their turn to put in some effort in communication.

I got a CI a year ago only because I wanted to get help with lipreading. It really has helped tremendously but I am still using ASL. I have come to the point where I would like to have ALL tools in order to communicate with both worlds.

I have a deaf niece who was implanted with a CI at a very young age. My brother and his ex wife are deaf but they do not use ASL much around with their daughter in hope that she will rely on speech more. But she is now interested in learning ASL and she is going on 11 now. She has established a foundation where she can speak well for rest of her life but has a strong desire to learn ASL so that she can find her identity.

It is hard to explain that sense of identity ...we could communicate so well with hearies but it doesnt mean we feel whole emotionally. You could talk so well yet feel isolated so that is what my niece is discovering. We wanted her to find out on her own because my brother and I went through that horrible process years ago as we were forced NOT to sign etc.

Bottom line - it is better to have both ways/worlds not either one of these as we will end up feeling incomplete.

Hope this answers your questions.
 
Thanks Meg you've explained it beautifully.
And oh how well I do understand this:
>>>Thus, I developed excellent lipreading and speechreading skills. But I lacked a sense of identity until I picked up ASL in my late 20's.<<

That's exactly what's happened to me. Except I never get the chance to belong to the deaf community and that chance at certain point is, at least for me, lost.
I too felt profound sense of identity loss, I still do but perhaps now that I am much older and look at things differently and don't care anymore what people think of me, I can identify with hearies, to a point.

But I am not a "hearie". I am in fact deaf with the excellent life long training in hearing plus lipreading and I can speak. My speech is lispy but not that bad.


I am wondering therefore, about pro and cons of being either deaf only, or hearie only, or both, and if it is at all possible to have the best of both worlds.

my instinct is telling me, if you are born with hearing loss you should always be with deaf people, just to have this identity, this opportunity to fall back from being exhausted from hearing world into your safe, well understood one..


I am looking forward to more opinions.

Fuzzy
 
Audiofuzzy said:
Thanks Meg you've explained it beautifully.
And oh how well I do understand this:
>>>Thus, I developed excellent lipreading and speechreading skills. But I lacked a sense of identity until I picked up ASL in my late 20's.<<

That's exactly what's happened to me. Except I never get the chance to belong to the deaf community and that chance at certain point is, at least for me, lost.
I too felt profound sense of identity loss, I still do but perhaps now that I am much older and look at things differently and don't care anymore what people think of me, I can identify with hearies, to a point.

But I am not a "hearie". I am in fact deaf with the excellent life long training in hearing plus lipreading and I can speak. My speech is lispy but not that bad.


I am wondering therefore, about pro and cons of being either deaf only, or hearie only, or both, and if it is at all possible to have the best of both worlds.

my instinct is telling me, if you are born with hearing loss you should always be with deaf people, just to have this identity, this opportunity to fall back from being exhausted from hearing world into your safe, well understood one..


I am looking forward to more opinions.

Fuzzy
Click to expand...


I understand what you are saying. I can relate very well to your thoughts on this. However, I disagree on one thing. You stated that it is too late to have a chance to belong to deaf community. It is never too late. Do not deprive yourself of exploring a such opportunity that might enhance your life and bring you benefits you never had until now.

I met this deaf woman who never socialized in Deaf Community or knew ASL when she was 42 years old. She said it was too late fo rher but I told her dont be silly. I helped her learn ASL and I introduced her to many Deaf people and she finally found her identity.

Now she is a social butterfly who is a member of many organizations and her husband cannot believe how shes blossomed once she found her place in the Deaf Community. She is 48 years old now.
 
only hearing people a person with CI is having an extensive exposure to speech and must practice speech and listening at all times,
which, I suppose is not that extensive in deaf world.
Click to expand...
Well why should someone have to endure life as a constant therapy session?


I was under an impression that the whole point of CI is the ability to hear (via implant)?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's hearing, but the results vary tremendously, and the hearing which the majority of people get from CI isn't what hearing think of as hearing. Also people with it are not fully hearing...they function as hard of hearing.
 
Audiofuzzy said:
I'm sorry if you misunderstood the question, perhaps I wasn't clear enough.

What I mean by "best possible results" is that by staying with only hearing people a person with CI is having an extensive exposure to speech and must practice speech and listening at all times,
which, I suppose is not that extensive in deaf world.

I am not saying hearing world is better.

And I do not understand this:

>>>CI would never improve to hear again because it stay deaf.<<<

I was under an impression that the whole point of CI is the ability to hear (via implant)?

Fuzzy
Click to expand...

Ohhh Fuzzy, now I understand what you mean. Sorry, if you didn't write it clear enough.

I wouldn't know about staying extensively with hearing people all the time. Like others said, it depends on individuals. Some embrace it and some dont.

Again, I apologise for the misunderstanding. ;)
 
Oh and if a deaf person who with hearing aids functions as hoh, can ID as Deaf, then there's no reason whatsoever why someone with a CI can't ID as Deaf....hell if unilaterally deaf people can ID as Deaf then there should be absolutly not problems...I think the debate is b/c some of the Deafer then thou extremists bought into the professional posistion that hoh kids are more hearing then deaf. Sorry, but I am hoh and I definitly don't fit into the hearing world!
 
>>>Well why should someone have to endure life as a constant therapy session?<<<

wow now that is an excellent argument !! I wish I have it when I needed before!

You are absolutely right, Deafdyke, why indeed. This is misery not life, really.


I've started this debate because on another forum I was reading a plea of a lady who was asked by a grandmother of born deaf 18 months old boy, who'se both parents are deaf also.
SUPPOSEDLY born deaf, how severe really is his hearing loss we don't know

They are looking for ways to help him to manage better in hearing world, which is not particularly deaf friendly in their european country.

Therefore they are desperate to find a dr who can diagnose him properly, and decide if this little boy is suitable for CI.

At first I objected to this - I said why force him to be a hearie now if, who knows, perhaps he would be as happy as a deafie, and his both parents are deaf.

But they told me it would be a very hard life for him as they don't have as many gadgets and service as USA have.

So perhaps they know better what to do.
But see, deep down I always wondered what would my life be, how would I turned out if I stayed deaf.. I will always wonder about that..

Then I wondered why not use the best of the two worlds- true, a deaf or hoh will never quite belong to the hearing world, but why not use all possible resources for communication anyway?

After all one may always stay with deaf culture if one wish...


isn't it so?

Fuzzy
 
I had perfect hearing in both ears till i was 7 years old and after that i could hear good out of 1 ear whlie the other was profound deaf for about 12 years,only in past 10 years i have been really deaf but i have never and probaly will always consider myself to not be deaf even though i am
 
Precisely...that's why I'm anti-auditory-verbal lifestyle...NOT anti-AVT since I think AVT can be helpful and fun, but it just seems like too many experts think that life should be an eternal therapy session. It's great to have oral skills, but I mean I've been teased, corrected and yelled at b/c of my voice.
Giving a dhh kid oral skills does not make them a part of the hearing world, any more then giving a kid fluency in another language makes them a part of that culture!
 
Meg said:
I understand what you are saying. I can relate very well to your thoughts on this. However, I disagree on one thing. You stated that it is too late to have a chance to belong to deaf community. It is never too late. Do not deprive yourself of exploring a such opportunity that might enhance your life and bring you benefits you never had until now.

I met this deaf woman who never socialized in Deaf Community or knew ASL when she was 42 years old. She said it was too late fo rher but I told her dont be silly. I helped her learn ASL and I introduced her to many Deaf people and she finally found her identity.

Now she is a social butterfly who is a member of many organizations and her husband cannot believe how shes blossomed once she found her place in the Deaf Community. She is 48 years old now.
Click to expand...

Yes, I has to agree with you. It will never being late if you are WILLING to learn anything what you want.
 
I've had my CI for 5 months. Although I have a CI, I identify myself as a deaf person (or deafblind since I am also totally blind) because without it, I can't hear. While my relationships with hearing people has grown, I have not neglected the deaf community nor do I intend to. I've maintained my tactile signing skills and I would say that I spend just as much time with the deaf community as I do with those who can hear.
 
McGusto: I know exactly what you mean and feel the same way! Even though I've had severe-profound hearing loss for the past 10 years, I've never considered myself "deaf."

Over the past 2-3 years I lost what speech discrimination I had in my right ear (left ear has had none for the past 10 years). Even when I relied soley upon tactile interpreters and captionists for communication, I still didn't consider myself a deaf person.

I've always been raised to use what hearing I have the best I can. Because I'm totally blind and have always relied on my hearing for mobility and daily living, even a very small amount of hearing has been invaluable to me.

It wasn't until my HA audi told me (last year) the cold and hard facts about how little hearing I actually had. I thought I had too much residual hearing for a CI, but found out that I was an excellent candidate.

It's amazing how much hearing a person can lose gradually and not know it. I've compensated for varying degrees of hearing loss over a 20 year span and never realized how bad it really was until I completely lost my ability to hear and understand speech. What a scary realization that was! :(
 
HearAgain and Mcgusto, I think you guys don't ID as deaf b/c you guys are postlingal. You have had the experiance of living with hearing loss much of your childhood , but your brain still processes things as hearing people.
 
deafdyke said:
HearAgain and Mcgusto, I think you guys don't ID as deaf b/c you guys are postlingal. You have had the experiance of living with hearing loss much of your childhood , but your brain still processes things as hearing people.
Click to expand...

deafdyke: Yes, that's definitely the case for me -- and it's still true even now with my CI. :)

When I received hearing aids at age 15 for a moderately-severe loss, I didn't consider myself HoH. In fact, I went out of my way *not* to wear my HAs until my friends convinced me otherwise. When I was diagnosed with severe-profound hearing loss 10 years ago, I labeled myself as "blind and hard of hearing" or "deafblind" because I could still hear and understand speech with an FM system/ALD. I didn't start to call myself deaf until I lost what speech discrimination I had 2-3 years ago.

I could be wrong, but I would think most postlingually deaf adults do not consider themselves as being "deaf." I've noticed some people indicate that they are "severely-profoundly HoH" (without hearing aids) as opposed to "severely-profoundly deaf."
 
That's funny as I only have a moderate to severe loss, and yet I consider myself deaf....then again wouldn't you consider yourself deaf if you couldn't hear thunder? ;) (I can't hear thunder unless it's directly overhead)
 
Thank you wholeheartedly for your generous invitation to enter Deaf World.
I might one day, right now I am managing as I am - I am rather a loner :)

Reading your insightful replies I come to the conclusion that doesn't matter how well one is adapted to the hearing world, it is TIRESOME after a while, and it does cause loss of identity, of belonging.

Therefore I think while there might be a few exceptions, the majority of oral CI and BTE does feel the need to belong to Deaf Culture.

Am I right?

Fuzzy
 
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