big ?!!!!!!!!! on making a deaf baby?

If my entire family were deaf I would want to keep my deaf culture and want my children to experience it.
Click to expand...

If your family is Deaf and completely integrated into the Deaf culture, your child will experience Deaf culture whether he is hearing or deaf. Since that is the dominant lifestyle of the family, the hearing child cannot outrun the Deaf way of life. All parents want to see a part of themselves in their children. We immediatley start looking for likenesses the minute they are born. While I believe most people wouldn't puposely create a deaf child, to some Deaf parents it may be a relief to find out your child cannot hear. They are alreadly aware of how to raise this child Deaf. It would be just as emotional for Deaf parents to raise a hearing child as it is for hearing parents to raise a deaf child.
 
jabbur said:
If your family is Deaf and completely integrated into the Deaf culture, your child will experience Deaf culture whether he is hearing or deaf. Since that is the dominant lifestyle of the family, the hearing child cannot outrun the Deaf way of life. All parents want to see a part of themselves in their children. We immediatley start looking for likenesses the minute they are born. While I believe most people wouldn't puposely create a deaf child, to some Deaf parents it may be a relief to find out your child cannot hear. They are alreadly aware of how to raise this child Deaf. It would be just as emotional for Deaf parents to raise a hearing child as it is for hearing parents to raise a deaf child.
Click to expand...

in your last sentence, I have to say that I disagree with you. Speaking for myself, I have 2 hearing children and I didn't go through any grieving when finding out that they r both hearing cuz I know that they will be able to learn ASL and be part of both worlds so it wasn't a big deal to me. All of my deaf friends and most of my deaf coworkers have hearing children and they didn't say they wished their children were deaf. It was like it didn't matter as long as our children learn ASL.

For the hearing parents, the shock and grieving process of finding out that their child is deaf is understandable cuz most hearing people had never encountered a deaf person before while we deaf people interact with hearing people one way or another daily. Then again for most deaf people to have a deaf baby or babies, it may be a joyous event or it may be a tragic one if the deaf person hasn't accepted his/her own deafness.

I know this deaf woman in PA who doesn't know ASL and refuses to learn it despite her deaf sister being fluent in it. Ironically her deaf children had 2 hearing kids while herself had 2 deaf children. She grieved and was jealous of her sister having 2 hearing kids not her. I thought that was an interesting story. To this day, she is starting to accept that her children will need ASL cuz they r struggling in the oral-only prgram so she and her husband are trying to learn sign language to communicate with their deaf children even though they are both deaf themselves. It is very rare but it happens.

The point is most deafies expect to have hearing children unless they came from generations and generations of deaf ancestors.
 
c-muffin said:
I agree with those of you who found Z.A.M.'s question offensive but only because of the way he asked it and you understood it as. I'm in Mr. Poston's ASL class and we have discussions about some of the debates that have been going on in the deaf community. I'm going to clairify what (I believe) Z.A.M. was trying to say.
To raise the chances of having a deaf child, some mixed couples (one hearing parent and one deaf parent) and couples with both parents deaf have went to donors who were deaf. This would mean that the parents were "messing" with the DNA of their child so that the chances of being deaf may be increased.***The question is... is this wrong?

I personally believe no. Although I am hearing, I would think of this from a deaf person's point of view. If my entire family were deaf I would want to keep my deaf culture and want my children to experience it. If they wanted to be hearing later in life, they would always have the option of Cochlear Implants.

what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Its wonderful that you are attempting to see things from a different cultural perspective, but you are way oversimplifying the issues. As shel said, a child of Deaf parents will experience Deaf culture whether hearing or deaf. And, I can't reemphasize the point enough, a CI does not make a deaf person hearing. It makes them deaf with a CI. There is no option to become hearing later in life.
 
Bingo! I have tried to explain to people that knew me before I bacame HOH, that a hearing aid does not equal normal hearing. My Mom thought I could still be happy with a Beatles CD for Christmas.."Just wear your hearing aid when you listen" so to compare a CI to normal hearing is even more offbase. I think people equate CI/Hearing aids to eyeglasses. There is a huge difference in the end results. I am still waiting for Z.A.M. to make a second appearance here. I think I nailed it when I figured he would not come back because he is just going through the motions to gain a class credit. Checking dem hunnies at da mall ZAM?
jillio said:
Its wonderful that you are attempting to see things from a different cultural perspective, but you are way oversimplifying the issues. As shel said, a child of Deaf parents will experience Deaf culture whether hearing or deaf. And, I can't reemphasize the point enough, a CI does not make a deaf person hearing. It makes them deaf with a CI. There is no option to become hearing later in life.
Click to expand...
 
saywhatkid said:
Bingo! I have tried to explain to people that knew me before I became HOH, that a hearing aid does not equal normal hearing. My Mom thought I could still be happy with a Beatles CD for Christmas.."Just wear your hearing aid when you listen" so to compare a CI to normal hearing is even more offbase.
Click to expand...

As a "late HOH person" I relate with your experience with music. I don't hear the music as I did during my Normal hearing days even with Hearing Aides. Since my hearing decreased I've learned to appreciate that music now sounds like Cat Howls, robotic lyrics, echos, or like my head is under water and I'm trying to make sense of sounds, put them in categories. Creating a new sound dictionary for my mind.

It takes awhile to accept this, but at least I've had the privilege (once upon a time) to have heard true sounds and music. Chin up man, and let Chuck Mangione rock your world once again. He will sound different now, and that's acceptable, my brain will sometimes allow me to remember the missing parts.
 
Thank you for reminding me of another musician I liked! I use the memory add for when I attempt to listen to music. (add where stuff is missing in my ears) I still crank the heck outta my car radio sometimes, and play "Fill in the notes" I am learning to accept it, but still sucks. No more hijacking now...back to your regularly scheduled posting!
mouse said:
As a "late HOH person" I relate with your experience with music. I don't hear the music as I did during my Normal hearing days even with Hearing Aides. Since my hearing decreased I've learned to appreciate that music now sounds like Cat Howls, robotic lyrics, echos, or like my head is under water and I'm trying to make sense of sounds, put them in categories. Creating a new sound dictionary for my mind.

It takes awhile to accept this, but at least I've had the privilege (once upon a time) to have heard true sounds and music. Chin up man, and let Chuck Mangione rock your world once again. He will sound different now, and that's acceptable, my brain will sometimes allow me to remember the missing parts.
Click to expand...
 
z.a.m said:
i am doing a project in school were i have to right a paper on a sertain subject. my subject is, "making a deaf baby"
i still havent chosen wether i am against it or for it.
i kneed anyones opinion on this subject.. are u against it? or for it? and why?
Click to expand...

Looks like z.a.m. started a row then took off.

The fact is science is taking a strange turn. It looks as tho in the relatively near future people will be able to make more and more choices where their unborn child is concerned, and do so with greater and greater certainty. Things such as sex, skin tone, height, weight tendency, I. Q., perhaps even sexual endowment, may become the parents "options" for their newborn babe.

Now at first brush it would be easy to think anyone would opt to try to have the most perfect baby possible, and the only possible argument might be whether some trait such as thin and tall would be better than medium height and muscular, but unfortunately history has shown this is not always the case.

An example would be plastic surgery, where some women prefer breast enlargement while even more prefer breast reduction. But one look at Michael Jackson and you realize something more is going on here -- Some people do not have the same ideas as most of us. He is not the worse case written about in history. It seems one man had his face carved to fit his mistress anus.

Choosing to have a deaf child would certainly not be the worst thing parents could do to their children and the reasoning could be lofty compared to some I could think of.

The question will probably become a legal one, "How much latitude should parents have in choosing these 'options'?"

The future might be a very scary place at times.
 
heya zach

Hey, this is Besancon. I thought you said you were already done with Skoog's paper? haha Oh well, I just started mine yesterday too.
I really hope you are doing the cons of genetically engineering a deaf child, because I'm already on a roll with the pros. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but it is so much easier to write a paper on something that is totally crap than it is to write something passionately. I might not even be there tomorrow, I am pretty sick. I'll be screwed out of 450 pts. if I don't show though. Oh well, we'll see.

later
 
"Making a Deaf Baby"

:eek2: Making a deaf baby?!? This just is not rational. I understand common sense is relative to one's own experiences, but to use an old adage: You don't have to have had broken leg to know it hurts". What would be the purpose to deliberately hindering a child’s ability to hear? I do not see the point of debating a dim argument. When a child is born with hearing loss, from profound to annoying, it is loss and my opinion should not be a goal even if there are extremely positive, progressive and remarkable role models in the community.
 
Originally Posted by z.a.m
i am doing a project in school were i have to right a paper on a sertain subject. my subject is, "making a deaf baby"
i still havent chosen wether i am against it or for it.
i kneed anyones opinion on this subject.. are u against it? or for it? and why?
Click to expand...

Berry said:
Looks like z.a.m. started a row then took off.
Click to expand...


Its not first time to find a newbie's making 1 to 5 posts to ask us about Deaf's.

It's one of my pet peeves, why can't z.a.m. go to Deaf Club and ask them in person or learn to communicated with them, rather than being lazy here to ask us questions, it makes me feel like an animal in a zoo!!
Click to expand...
 
Opal said:
Its not first time to find a newbie's making 1 to 5 posts to ask us about Deaf's.

It's one of my pet peeves, why can't z.a.m. go to Deaf Club and ask them in person or learn to communicated with them, rather than being lazy here to ask us questions, it makes me feel like an animal in a zoo!!
Click to expand...

He won't go to a Deaf club, cause with an attitude like that, he'd probably get the shit beat out of him!
Click to expand...
 
shel90 said:
Both of my children are hearing..there was a moment when the doctors thought my son was deaf and I gotta be honest here, I got butterflies and got all excited about it. I was surprised that I reacted that way...but no, he is not deaf and of course, I dont wish that on him but there was that fleeting moment that I was about to jump up and down for joy of having a deaf baby.

Anyways, I would never manipulate my child's DNA to match my needs. I would just let nature take its course. As for screening for deafness and I find out the baby carries the deaf gene, I would NEVER abort it. If people plan on doing that just because the baby is deaf, that is just plain tragic.


Deaf or hearing, both of my children will learn ASL and my son is signing a lot now. He hasnt spoken a word yet. My in laws are worried that by him signing he will be delayed in speech devolopment. Oh boy..:ugh:
Click to expand...
ur story is similar to mine..

my doctor thought my son was deaf.. just because i'm, deaf too.. they get a misconcept logic.

even other people think he's deaf just cuz i'm deaf..
 
Well. The TRUE Deaf Culture is not a "snob deafies". Deaf people are very openly to the hearing people. Deaf people tend to over excited to be a deaf, but they also tend to understand how normal to be a hearing.

I, myself, have a CI. CI don't help me to hear like a hearing people hears. It sucks, no kidding. It give me headaches, and makes my hearing family became annoying me by pesting me to wear the CI.

Now you want to mention about changing the baby from hearing to deaf is quite mistake. Have you thought about this baby becoming adult, he/she happen found out that you actually make him/her deaf. What do you think how he/she will feel?

If you really seriously want to make your baby deaf, simple. Just get drunk or do the drugs during your pregancy, when the baby born, it might be the deaf or blind or mentally retard (no offend). Deaf is not a race, it's part of disability. You actually have to understand that.

Sorry if I sounds mean, but I just don't like the idea.
 
No matter if any parents have children.. No parents are able to make deaf baby....I was born HOH... my parents were deaf... My son was born HOH.. other three daughters are hearing.. they did not ask to be born hearin or deaf or HOH... what an idiot topic....Mod...Please lock this thread.. No one ask to be born deaf....
 
PuyoPiyo said:
Well. The TRUE Deaf Culture is not a "snob deafies". Deaf people are very openly to the hearing people. Deaf people tend to over excited to be a deaf, but they also tend to understand how normal to be a hearing.

I, myself, have a CI. CI don't help me to hear like a hearing people hears. It sucks, no kidding. It give me headaches, and makes my hearing family became annoying me by pesting me to wear the CI.

Now you want to mention about changing the baby from hearing to deaf is quite mistake. Have you thought about this baby becoming adult, he/she happen found out that you actually make him/her deaf. What do you think how he/she will feel?

If you really seriously want to make your baby deaf, simple. Just get drunk or do the drugs during your pregancy, when the baby born, it might be the deaf or blind or mentally retard (no offend). Deaf is not a race, it's part of disability. You actually have to understand that.

Sorry if I sounds mean, but I just don't like the idea.
Click to expand...

DITTO!!! I totally agree with you.... it is good posting.. thanks..... I consider this thread A INSULT.. NO deafies ask to be born deaf...
 
PuyoPiyo said:
Well. The TRUE Deaf Culture is not a "snob deafies". Deaf people are very openly to the hearing people. Deaf people tend to over excited to be a deaf, but they also tend to understand how normal to be a hearing.

I, myself, have a CI. CI don't help me to hear like a hearing people hears. It sucks, no kidding. It give me headaches, and makes my hearing family became annoying me by pesting me to wear the CI.

Now you want to mention about changing the baby from hearing to deaf is quite mistake. Have you thought about this baby becoming adult, he/she happen found out that you actually make him/her deaf. What do you think how he/she will feel?

If you really seriously want to make your baby deaf, simple. Just get drunk or do the drugs during your pregancy, when the baby born, it might be the deaf or blind or mentally retard (no offend). Deaf is not a race, it's part of disability. You actually have to understand that.

Sorry if I sounds mean, but I just don't like the idea.
Click to expand...

As one of those hearies, I agree with you about Deaf culture! When my son was born profoundly deaf, I asked Deaf culture for advise on what I needed to do and they were very welcoming to me and to my son. They taught both me and my son ASL, and were very patient with my mistakes. I don't see the culture as snobby at all!
 
Deaf people do have purposely try to have deaf babies. And they have the rights too. If this the subject you want to write about, then study about holocaust and deaf.

Why pick on deafs? there are other people who purposely want babies of their own kinds too. Like Midget (I don't know the proper scientific term for this, so if it is offensive, please forgive me)

I think you should change it to: Should people genetically altered DNA to reproduce babies of their preference. Or something like that.

When I think of DNA being altered, I think of the movie "Gattaca".
 
Back
Top