Getting some numbers

[Cloggy]

Arguments pro / con CI will often focus on the choice for the child. Should the parents take the decision or should the child?

I thought I might do a poll and see how the users themself see it. So please, only the "experts" answer.
I thought it might be good to keep it simple:

Choices:
My parents decided to have me operated - it was a GOOD choice
My parents decided to have me operated - it was a BAD choice
My parents decided against to have me operated - it was a GOOD choice
My parents decided agianst to have me operated - it was a BAD choice

 

[Teresh]

My parents would not have even considered getting a cochlear implant for me in part because they refused to acknowledge my hearing loss at all, but also in part because there are nothing wrong with my cochleae. An implant in my case would do zero good and would be an utter waste of money.

As for if I think that CIs are overall a good idea, I think they're often not a good idea because the hearing parents of a deaf child would have it put in and then think that the situation is 'over' and that their child is now hearing, which is never the case, even with state-of-the-art technology. I also think that thinking that deafness is a 'disease' that should be 'cured' is a pandemic problem in hearing society, so I'd say that even if the CI were able to completely solve all hearing difficulties, it would still probably be a bad idea.

 

[sr171soars]

My parents would not have even considered getting a cochlear implant for me in part because they refused to acknowledge my hearing loss at all, but also in part because there are nothing wrong with my cochleae. An implant in my case would do zero good and would be an utter waste of money.

As for if I think that CIs are overall a good idea, I think they're often not a good idea because the hearing parents of a deaf child would have it put in and then think that the situation is 'over' and that their child is now hearing, which is never the case, even with state-of-the-art technology. I also think that thinking that deafness is a 'disease' that should be 'cured' is a pandemic problem in hearing society, so I'd say that even if the CI were able to completely solve all hearing difficulties, it would still probably be a bad idea.

Er...if there is nothing wrong with your cochlea, then that is not a good reason not to have a CI. In fact, a CI would most likely work well. It just depends on other issues.

A CI sure doesn't cure deafness...true statement. But it is a great tool for allowing many to at least have the opportunity to hear enough to have the ability to communicate.

The efforts (by the hearing world) to assist the deaf hear is not done to destroy the deaf community but rather provide opportunities for those interested in hearing. There are many who are deaf would love the having the ability to hear for the first time or again. If you don't, nobody is putting a pistol to your head to make you hear.

The issues of a CI for children should be left to parents as children are not in any position to debate it. They can always go their own way later on in life.

 

[Teresh]

The issues of a CI for children should be left to parents as children are not in any position to debate it. They can always go their own way later on in life.

I disagree, because the parents will most likely choose the whatever way best suits their needs from their perspective. Hearing parents typically want (and expect) a hearing child. If they are led to believe that an operation can make their deaf child hearing, why would they not pay the money, even if it's not in the best interests of the child?

I think the child should be educated as any other dhh child would be and when they're old enough to make decisions like that they can make up their own mind.

 

[DeafSCUBA98]

i can't vote for any of them..

however when i was 11 years old.. the audiologist refer my parents about CI.. and they asked me and i choose not to..

and i just got CI last april.. and i am 25 that time.

 

[Liebling:-)))]

I can´t find where I can vote because I do not against CI.

All what I beleive is support my child´s decision either she/he want to have CI or not.

 

[Mookie]

The poll does not make sense to me:

My parents decided to have me operated - it was a GOOD choice
My parents decided to have me operated - it was a BAD choice
My parents decided against to have me operated - it was a GOOD choice
My parents decided agianst to have me operated - it was a BAD choice

Working class wishs thier deaf child to have CI but they can not afford. What is different opinion if the parents are wealth class, middle class and working class if they can support the opinions. I know that wealth/middle class always make strong decision. However, the working class can not easily make a decision unless they probably afford expensive health insurance as long as they do not owe the mortages.

 

[deafdyke]

Should the parents take the decision or should the child?

Obvious cases like with auditory nereopathy or really no benifit from hearing aids, the parent should take the decision. However, ambigious cases should wait until the child's a little older....Not an adult, but old enough to help make the decision.

Working class wishs thier deaf child to have CI but they can not afford. What is different opinion if the parents are wealth class, middle class and working class if they can support the opinions. I know that wealth/middle class always make strong decision. However, the working class can not easily make a decision unless they probably afford expensive health insurance as long as they do not owe the mortages

Excellent point..... I remember reading that the sucessful oralists tend to be from families that are relatively rich. Even people from "middle class" homes can struggle with the high costs of health care..... That's not to say that middle and working class folks CAN"T produce sucessful oralists.....it's just that sucess in oralism has more to do with abilty to access oral schools and really talented auditory-verbal therapists, then it does with any innate abilty.

 

[CrazyMomma]

I think you can try and see what it is like. You NEVER know, CI might help you. All you can just try and see what it is like. If not helping, you can always take it off. It is going to be a long processing.

I voted "My parents decided to have me operated - it was a GOOD choice"


For me, Go for it and try.



I wish I can get CI, but I wasn't qualified for CI implants, because my hearing are too good to get CI. If I was totally deaf, I would be able to qualified, and try to see what is like.

It is not everyone's decision, it is YOUR decision along with parents supporting.

Almost all of my friends have CI and they tried and it helps them and some of them doesn't like, but they take them off.

 

[sr171soars]

I disagree, because the parents will most likely choose the whatever way best suits their needs from their perspective. Hearing parents typically want (and expect) a hearing child. If they are led to believe that an operation can make their deaf child hearing, why would they not pay the money, even if it's not in the best interests of the child?

I think the child should be educated as any other dhh child would be and when they're old enough to make decisions like that they can make up their own mind.

I can see what you are saying but that is denying one fact you can't wish away no matter how hard you try. Given current technology, there is a window of opportunity that increases the success of a CI that is best done within the first seven years of life. More to the point, the earlier the better. Maybe technology and better understanding can provide people the opportunity to wait later to have imput when one is much older. I don't know what the future will bring but I know what possible today. You talk about the best interest of the child. Assuming the parent isn't "blinded" about what their child best needs, the parents are in the best position to decide what is best for the child. Yes, there are many parents who aren't as well versed as they should be but there are too many factors that we are talking about here to make snap judgements. More education is required to make this a more favorable outcome for the child (whether to or not to do a CI or anything else for that matter).

There is one thing I refuse to agree to believe and that is because a person (child) is deaf that is the way they should be. That argument can be applied to somebody born without a leg or an arm and they should not be given prosthesises because that is the way it is. It may be that the person ultimately (when of age or capable of making a rational decision) prefers to be deaf and I say let them...it is their choice at that point.

 

[sr171soars]

.....it's just that sucess in oralism has more to do with abilty to access oral schools and really talented auditory-verbal therapists, then it does with any innate abilty.

Er...for me it was both the support I got as well as innate ability. Don't sell people short using what abilities they have. It has nothing to do with having money. Money can provide things but it is up to you to do something with it. I have seen this so many times that a rich child ends up being an adult that is incapable of functioning (sic...without wealth) because they can't do any for themselves. This is because they never had to stand on their two feet like their parents or others.

 

[Cloggy]

I can´t find where I can vote because I do not against CI.

That's the idea. I can't vote either because I am hearing. Some people can't vote because the operation was not an option.

I'm curious about those whose parents had an option when they were too little to choose themselves.

 

[Cloggy]

The poll does not make sense to me:
Working class wishs thier deaf child to have CI but they can not afford. What is different opinion if the parents are wealth class, middle class and working class if they can support the opinions. I know that wealth/middle class always make strong decision. However, the working class can not easily make a decision unless they probably afford expensive health insurance as long as they do not owe the mortages.

You are right. I could have added "The parents wanted to but couldn't afford it" but I wanted to keep it simple.

 

[deafdyke]

Agreed......but were you born or very early deafened or did you lose your hearing? Kids who lost their hearing, even as babies (like around a year old or after a couple of months of being able to hear normally) have been better users of the CI, then the population that was born or very early deafened.
I know research has confirmed that link......

Don't sell people short using what abilities they have. It has nothing to do with having money. Money can provide things but it is up to you to do something with it. I have seen this so many times that a rich child ends up being an adult that is incapable of functioning (sic...without wealth) because they can't do any for themselves.

Oh, agreed......and I am not selling people short....I'm just saying that a LOT of the "oral sucesses" have to do with more a combonation of really good access to health care (rehabilative therapies) and access to private schools( research has indicated that most oral sucesses are the result of the private schools) Money is needed in that case. Also, families like that can spend more money on supplimental stuff, that poorer families can't afford.
Also, how much of the sucess is due to innate abilty vs. lifestyle....like the type of families who thrive on hyperprogramming and who give their kids toys to increase their SAT scores?

 

[sr171soars]

Agreed......but were you born or very early deafened or did you lose your hearing? Kids who lost their hearing, even as babies (like around a year old or after a couple of months of being able to hear normally) have been better users of the CI, then the population that was born or very early deafened.
I know research has confirmed that link......

Yep, I was a prelingually deaf kid (severe) and I used a HA for almost my entire life until recently (March '05). I had a good support system in with parents and I got the schooling (not rich places but public schools that had programs in place to assist me) that I needed to be very oral. Part of that was my parents driving me but also I wanted that as well. What probably made me very successful with my CI are several, 1) I always had the ability to use what hearing I had to understand speech and speak language well, 2) probably the latest technology with the Cochlear Freedom (which is getting raves by the Audis all over) didn't hurt either, and 3) I was going to make this work one way or another.

 

[dkf747]

There is one thing I refuse to agree to believe and that is because a person (child) is deaf that is the way they should be. That argument can be applied to somebody born without a leg or an arm and they should not be given prosthesises because that is the way it is. It may be that the person ultimately (when of age or capable of making a rational decision) prefers to be deaf and I say let them...it is their choice at that point.

There's one thing I refuse to do: Let some dude cut my kid open when it isn't necessary to do so.

 

[Teresh]

Assuming the parent isn't "blinded" about what their child best needs, the parents are in the best position to decide what is best for the child.

Being as my parents believed entirely oral education and reinforcing in me that I was hearing (which was never true) were good ideas, and I'm worse off nowadays as a result, I'm inclinded to believe otherwise. Parents, indeed people in general are inseperable from their opinions. My parents may have been an extreme case, but I do not think that any human being is capable of thinking with an open mind when things do not go the way they planned or expected. They will assume that they are right, even if they are very very wrong, and depending on the person may be very resistive to thinking outside the box or consulting a professional (or in the case of my parents, believing what the professionals say).

There is one thing I refuse to agree to believe and that is because a person (child) is deaf that is the way they should be. That argument can be applied to somebody born without a leg or an arm and they should not be given prosthesises because that is the way it is. It may be that the person ultimately (when of age or capable of making a rational decision) prefers to be deaf and I say let them...it is their choice at that point.

That is implying that there is something wrong with being deaf, which I completely disagree with. Just because the majority of the population is hearing does not mean dhh are diseased or that there is something wrong with us. Among Deaf, including hearing that are willing to learn, not being able to hear as a hearing person would is not at all a disability and it shouldn't be seen as one.

When hearing parents are raising a deaf child, thus, the best solution is not for the parents to be led to believe that if they have their child get an operation their child will become hearing. The answer is also not thrusting the child into the hearing world hoping that they will be able to lipread or hear/lipread well enough to understand speech. Instead, the best solution is for the parents to be willing to learn ASL and when the child is older (maybe ten or eleven), introduce him or her to the hearing world and give him or her the option of being in the hearing world and present the technological means that make interacting in hearing society is possible to some degree.



Yes, I'm biased and I will not deny that in the least, but having been expected to be hearing, and then being denied any means of addressing the fact that I could not hear well in spite of living among hearies on the grounds that I was 'hearing', I believe I have firm reason to posess the strong convictions that I do.

 

[darkangel8603]

this poll is more for people who had the ci operation when they were younger than 18. There are other people who decided to get a ci when they are older, but has no place to vote. So i assume this poll is for people who got the operation when they were under their parent's authorities

 

[deafdyke]

Yep, I was a prelingually deaf kid (severe) and I used a HA for almost my entire life until recently (March '05). I had a good support system in with parents and I got the schooling (not rich places but public schools that had programs in place to assist me) that I needed to be very oral. Part of that was my parents driving me but also I wanted that as well. What probably made me very successful with my CI are several, 1) I always had the ability to use what hearing I had to understand speech and speak language well

Hey.....I was just saying that a lot NOT ALL "oral sucesses" might be due to lifestyle.... I mean there are kids who are functionally hoh with aids and who don't need intensive training to be oral, as well as kids who feel more hoh, rather then Deaf.....

 

[sr171soars]

There's one thing I refuse to do: Let some dude cut my kid open when it isn't necessary to do so.

I respect that. It's your opinion. Life goes on...