Success for deaf community

Miss-Delectable

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Success for deaf community -- chicagotribune.com

This is in response to "Wisconsin could be first to require cochlear implants" (News, April 23). Sometimes the worst things in history have been done with the best intentions.

Lawmakers tend to simplify an issue and say if more children have access to cochlear implants then they would be able to close down the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. The reality is, they are ignoring some critical aspects.

Babies, whether they are hearing or deaf, can acquire language skills through American Sign Language before they can speak. The benefits of early language development from sign language is more consistently successful than relying on an invasive surgery that could cause death or other serious side effects. Sure there are success stories, but what about those children who still cannot understand speech even after years of extensive speech training?

The formula for success of any deaf child must include positive deaf role models and a positive self-identity. This means that schools must have deaf teachers and administrators who can empathize and communicate effortlessly with them. It's understandable that parents would want their children to remain close to them and to hear and speak like them, but it is dangerous to cling to the false hope that cochlear implants or intensive speech therapy will make their children "whole" again. That puts the child at a tremendous disadvantage and puts him or her through unnecessary risk.

As a Democrat and deaf person myself, Rep. David Cullen (D-Milwaukee) does the deaf community a great disservice when he says, "This bill is going to allow children to keep their hearing, to become members of society, to go to school and keep a job."That is an insult to me and many in the deaf community because it tells society that unless deaf people can hear and speak, they are unequal, uneducated and unemployed. That is fallacious and his comments only encourage discrimination on the basis of a person's ability to hear and speak.

I am living proof of a successful deaf person without cochlear implants; I have a degree from Georgetown University, work at an investment bank and am certainly an equal member of society.

-Timothy Riker
Chicago
 
Rep. David Cullen (D-Milwaukee) does the deaf community a great disservice when he says, "This bill is going to allow children to keep their hearing, to become members of society, to go to school and keep a job."

This is fucking BS! Become members of society? What are we, chopped liver?

This is what happens with the view behind CIs.
 
My gosh, the CI was just supposed to be one of the many tools in a full toolbox for a child's learning skills.

Last time I recalled, the CI was a choice. Can we say cultural genocide?
 
oh, I really DISAGREE with that - being required to use the CI? And I think what Rep. Cullen said is very insulting - my first thought, when I read that - was, so it implies d/Deaf are not members of society, don't keep jobs. etc......oooh, not good at all....:mad:

Now, I am not Deaf but I think I have learned a lot from reading in the oral/CI/Deaf education topics and from reading overall about Deaf peoples' experiences so I am glad to have been informed. I am in WI and thinking about writing to Rep. Cullen.
 
My gosh, the CI was just supposed to be one of the many tools in a full toolbox for a child's learning skills.

Last time I recalled, the CI was a choice. Can we say cultural genocide?

I thought Canada already did this?
 
It shows that our society does not accept us for who we are. Sad.
 
I thought Canada already did this?

yep. there is one ENT doctor responsible for all of the cochlear implant surgeries in Newfoundland and Labrador (eastern Canada), he wants to eradicate the deaf and our culture! check this out:

Eradicating Deafness - Volconvo Debate Forums


these quotes are what pissed me off the most:

"We don't have any children now going to the school for the deaf," Batten says, explaining that children who are born deaf have a good chance at hearing if they get an implant early in life.

"The school for the deaf is being phased out," he says. "Children (with implants) they get better incomes when they graduate, they get higher levels of learning, they integrate into society."

So sign language is a dying language. It's only for the older people who are beyond the cochlear implant years now.

"It's interesting because it's a dying culture and it's kind of part of our past now."

who the hell is he to decide? what about those who do not qualify for cochler implants? what about those who DO NOT WANT ONE?

kudos for those who WANT cochlear implants...but they would STILL benefit from ASL, deaf schools, deaf community so think twice before eradicating us. LIKE ALWAYS, we will be here for those "cochlear implant" failures with open arms.

:barf:
 
Yes missy is right and already the NFLD community is lobbying against this. It's making news so fast in a positive way.
 
"Wisconsin could be first to require cochlear implants" (News, April 23).

OMG! just OMG! is this the steps backward jillio was talking about in another education thread?!?

Absolutely ridiculous -- AGBell's Eugenics rearing its uggy head again?!?

Im with Shel - WTF!

Last time I recalled, the CI was a choice. Can we say cultural genocide?
Well said and frightening!
 
This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about when I said we were taking a step backward!! This makes me so angry!!!:rl:
 
They are f***cking hypocritics...they say they want to close down the deaf school and talk about deaf people not being able to hold down jobs if they dont have CIs or speak. Well, by closing the school, they will put more deaf people out of jobs! Talk about being hypocritical!
 
there should be a letter writing campaign about his ignorance and discrimination. It is not alright to force CI upon deaf. :mad::mad2:
 
I hope someone would take it to federal court or supreme court to strike the down due violation of 14th Amendment.

I have nothing to against on CI but it should be choice instead of authority.
 
They are f***cking hypocritics...they say they want to close down the deaf school and talk about deaf people not being able to hold down jobs if they dont have CIs or speak. Well, by closing the school, they will put more deaf people out of jobs! Talk about being hypocritical!

You hit that nail square on the head Shel!

I agree that CIs can be beneficial, but it has to be done on a case by case basis, and there are those who will still receive the CI and will go through many hours of intensive speech therapy only to be able to recognize a few words, and they all fall back on ASL - a visual language in which they can understand and communicate with.

Not everyone has benefited from a CI. There are people now who got a CI because they wanted to, and now they don't even wear it because they decided that being deaf is better.

I think this legislation is emotionally driven, and has absolutely zero measurable facts to stand on to support it. The person behind it Rep. Cullen, thinks that the deaf are broken humans that need to be fixed. He's using the sympathy and goodwill card to get his measure voted on and passed which in this case I hope it backfires on him.

I doubt he has spoken to many deaf people within his state to get a feel of what his constituents really think. He probably thought this one up on whim.
 
That is f**ked up. Maybe this guy is just ignorant. Here is his (Rep. David Cullen (D-Milwaukee) contact information. Let him know how you feel.

Telephone
(608) 267-9836 Or
(888) 534-0013

Email
Rep.Cullen@legis.wisconsin.gov

Voting Address
2845 North 68th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53210
 
Oh. My. God.

This made me SICK. Seriously SICK to my stomach.

Thanks for the info Rockdrummer!
 
Oh. My. God.

This made me SICK. Seriously SICK to my stomach.

Thanks for the info Rockdrummer!
Your welcome and I would encourage anyone that has a problem with his statements to contact him and in a tactful way, give him a reality check. If you don't then you are part of the problem and really have no right to complain. I will be sending him an email shortly. Remeber to be tactful if you want to be taken seriously.
 
That is f**ked up. Maybe this guy is just ignorant. Here is his (Rep. David Cullen (D-Milwaukee) contact information. Let him know how you feel.

Telephone
(608) 267-9836 Or
(888) 534-0013

Email
Rep.Cullen@legis.wisconsin.gov

Voting Address
2845 North 68th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53210

Thanks for the info and yes, I will be very professional and tactful when composing my email.
 
My gosh, the CI was just supposed to be one of the many tools in a full toolbox for a child's learning skills.

Last time I recalled, the CI was a choice. Can we say cultural genocide?
Oh, definitely!
If it were to become Wisconsin law, I'd be disturbed as this will set a precedent.
 
The bill requires INSURANCE to PAYfor a CI. It does NOT require ANYONE to get one.....READ first, post second.
 
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