Designing A Hearing Baby

[jillio]

That's OK. I knew you were waiting for it.
Now, go out, and make a new deaf child.!

Now, when this is done.. would you consider CI.. for your deaf child or will you let your child grow up Deaf again.?

I would react to the diagnosis of deafness to a second child in exactly the same way I reacted to the diagnosis in the first child. The decisions I made resulted in a well adjusted, happy, academically advanced child the first time around. Why wouldn't I do the same for a second child? And, it would be much easier to accomplish the second time around,a s I am already fluent in sign, and have numerous Deaf/deaf friends.

 

[jillio]

Why would you want to give your child less opportunities...??? Removing a sense, as opposed to providing one...
My daughter is deaf. She can hear with the CI. We gave her that possibility. My daughter can still learn signlanguage, get into Deaf culture if she wants...

And in contrast... you think destroying a sense would make sense.
Why.??
Do you need to be deaf in order to sign?
Do you need to be deaf in order to "get" Deaf culture...

Or, is the idea that in the future your child might be able to hear and speak, not depending on sign-language too confronting for you?

Less opportunity is a subjective assessment, and dependent upon perspective.

And, cloggy, try looking at the issue as more than simply a sensory function. Perhaps then you will see where the question is heading.

 

[Cloggy]

I would react to the diagnosis of deafness to a second child in exactly the same way I reacted to the diagnosis in the first child. The decisions I made resulted in a well adjusted, happy, academically advanced child the first time around. Why wouldn't I do the same for a second child? And, it would be much easier to accomplish the second time around,a s I am already fluent in sign, and have numerous Deaf/deaf friends.

Good choice! So, no desire to try to be good at parenting a deaf child that can hear ?

Less opportunity is a subjective assessment, and dependent upon perspective.

And, cloggy, try looking at the issue as more than simply a sensory function. Perhaps then you will see where the question is heading.

What is it that a hearing child cannot do that a deaf child can?

 

[Audiofuzzy]

The same way a parent tries to make their child hearing...through surgical intervention and lingustic restrictions.

What exactly is WRONG with giving a deaf child a gift of hearing?


Surgical intervention enables a totally deaf child to hear, one that otherwise would not benefit form conventional HAs.
The earlier implanation, the more benefits of CI. To prevent, to take away receiving such a gift is as bad as linguistic restriction.


It's not the DEVICES that are bad, it's people's close-mindedness.

Fuzzy

 

[jillio]

Good choice! So, no desire to try to be good at parenting a deaf child that can hear ?

Why would that be necessary? I find it much more important to teach a child how to function on a complete level as the deaf child they are. And, with HA, my son has a degree of auditory perception, so I have already had that experience. Doesn't make any difference whether he can hear while assisted or not....he's still a deaf child. That holds true for any deaf child. My parenting decisions are not and were not based on an audiogram.



What is it that a hearing child cannot do that a deaf child can?

In reverse, what is it that a deaf child cannot do that a hearing child can?

 

[WBHarley]

What exactly is WRONG with giving a deaf child a gift of hearing?


Surgical intervention enables a totally deaf child to hear, one that otherwise would not benefit form conventional HAs.
The earlier implanation, the more benefits of CI. To prevent, to take away receiving such a gift is as bad as linguistic restriction.


It's not the DEVICES that are bad, it's people's close-mindedness.

Fuzzy

thank you Fuzzy...

That is so totally true!

Wendy

 

[shel90]

What exactly is WRONG with giving a deaf child a gift of hearing?


Surgical intervention enables a totally deaf child to hear, one that otherwise would not benefit form conventional HAs.
The earlier implanation, the more benefits of CI. To prevent, to take away receiving such a gift is as bad as linguistic restriction.


It's not the DEVICES that are bad, it's people's close-mindedness.

Fuzzy

Too bad that not all children are able to benefit from them if it is such a gift.

 

[Tousi]

Too bad that not all children are able to benefit from them if it is such a gift.

On the other hand, I often wonder what the "true" rate of success the CI is? IF, all CI'ers, and all audiologists & surgeons adhered to the following: CI success= 1% to the surgeon, hmmmm, say, 10% to the audiologist, then about 90% of the effort must come from the CI'er! I opine that a lot of the CI "failures" (stats) would be be skewed by the CI'er for any number of reasons.

Even still, I have come to understand the success rate is high, higher than that garnered from a hearing aid.

Note I've left out the politics here and that's the scope I wish this to remain in as there are any number of topics dealing with the larger picture.

 

[Drew's Dad]

On the other hand, I often wonder what the "true" rate of success the CI is? IF, all CI'ers, and all audiologists & surgeons adhered to the following: CI success= 1% to the surgeon, hmmmm, say, 10% to the audiologist, then about 90% of the effort must come from the CI'er! I opine that a lot of the CI "failures" (stats) would be be skewed by the CI'er for any number of reasons.

Even still, I have come to understand the success rate is high, higher than that garnered from a hearing aid.

I continuously see references to the fact that "not all benefit", but I rarely if ever see an explanation of why these people are not benefiting. Most of the time, the people who keep reminding us of these failures have never investigated anything about why the CI recipients have not flourished. In many these types of posts, the insinuation is that it is failing because of the implant technology is not proper, rather than personal factors that can be controlled in many cases (which are not investigated).

My opinion is that if someone wants to tell a story about how they consistently see people that have failed implant experiences, they should give the information so we can see why, such as the items I describe in my post "We Need Current Info Before Writing Off Cochlear Implants."

 

[Tousi]

I continuously see references to the fact that "not all benefit", but I rarely if ever see an explanation of why these people are not benefiting. Most of the time, the people who keep reminding us of these failures have never investigated anything about why the CI recipients have not flourished. In many these types of posts, the insinuation is that it is failing because of the implant technology is not proper, rather than personal factors that can be controlled in many cases (which are not investigated).

My opinion is that if someone wants to tell a story about how they consistently see people that have failed implant experiences, they should give the information so we can see why, such as the items I describe in my post "We Need Current Info Before Writing Off Cochlear Implants."

Drew, just from my personal experience and contacts, some of these personal failures are due to laziness, peer pressure, bad or ignorant audiologists, and because the deaf life was more attractive. I doubt you are going to get the truth from those....If everything's in place, it is a ton of work, as long as 5 years for some, depending on a number of things....

 

[shel90]

I continuously see references to the fact that "not all benefit", but I rarely if ever see an explanation of why these people are not benefiting. Most of the time, the people who keep reminding us of these failures have never investigated anything about why the CI recipients have not flourished. In many these types of posts, the insinuation is that it is failing because of the implant technology is not proper, rather than personal factors that can be controlled in many cases (which are not investigated).

My opinion is that if someone wants to tell a story about how they consistently see people that have failed implant experiences, they should give the information so we can see why, such as the items I describe in my post "We Need Current Info Before Writing Off Cochlear Implants."

I dont get a good answer from the children's parents or audi's about why their CIs dont work for them and also, I dont have the time to investigate EVERY child that I have worked with in the last 5 years to why their CIs dont work. That is not my area...my responsibilities are to get their literacy, language, and socio-economic skills up to par and give them the best education I can provide. I am just too busy at work planning lessons, being on committees, doing reports and meetings to investigate why their CIs dont work. The fact is that they dont benefit from them and I dont ask questions. I just ask what is their language, reading, math, and writing levels are. After work, my family life is my priority.

Sorry

 

[shel90]

Drew, just from my personal experience and contacts, some of these personal failures are due to laziness, peer pressure, bad or ignorant audiologists, and because the deaf life was more attractive. I doubt you are going to get the truth from those....If everything's in place, it is a ton of work, as long as 5 years for some, depending on a number of things....

It could be...everytime I ask why the CIs didnt work for their child, usually I get "I dont know." Maybe the parents dont want to admit that they didnt work hard as they should but I cant assume can I . The fact is that the kids I have worked with had little or no benefit from their CIs as far as language development is concerned.

 

[sr171soars]

Drew, just from my personal experience and contacts, some of these personal failures are due to laziness, peer pressure, bad or ignorant audiologists, and because the deaf life was more attractive. I doubt you are going to get the truth from those....If everything's in place, it is a ton of work, as long as 5 years for some, depending on a number of things....

There is a lot of truth to this just from observing people in general. Not everybody is going to give 110% to accomplish something worthwhile whatever it is. More than anything else...it all comes down to the intrinsic motivation of the individual. One either wants it or doesn't.... Of course, not for the lack of trying can one still fail...life isn't always fair.

 

[deafdyke]

Actually, re: the debate on why CI doesn't work for some kids..............Maybe its just basicly that it doesn't work for them. Just the same way that hearing aids worked for MANY dhh kids, but didn't work out for SOME dhh kids.

 

[Tousi]

It could be...everytime I ask why the CIs didnt work for their child, usually I get "I dont know." Maybe the parents dont want to admit that they didnt work hard as they should but I cant assume can I . The fact is that the kids I have worked with had little or no benefit from their CIs as far as language development is concerned.

Yeah, Shel, I hear ya but I would have thought by now that maybe somewhere along the way, at your work, maybe a student who has failed with the CI might have dropped ancedotal statements to give you an idea as to why.....

 

[Tousi]

There is a lot of truth to this just from observing people in general. Not everybody is going to give 110% to accomplish something worthwhile whatever it is. More than anything else...it all comes down to the intrinsic motivation of the individual. One either wants it or doesn't.... Of course, not for the lack of trying can one still fail...life isn't always fair.

Yeah, sr171, I especially agree with your "......intrinsic motivation......" and if we are talking about young people, posties or pre's, they aren't really at the age to have something to strive for. I'd give the posties the edge there, tho.

 

[Buffalo]

It has allready been done. Years ago by 2 lesbian Deaf woman in Canada I believe.
So, nothing new there... Go ahead J.

No, a knife never laid on their baby. One of them found a deaf guy whose deafness goes 5 generations back and got pregnant the old-fashion way. It is a gamble she took to get a deaf baby and she 'won'. In CI cases, a knife is used. got it?

 

[Buffalo]

Maria, You are right and I have seen the film "Designing the Hearing Baby". Boy, that made me sad and cried because the deaf woman is trying to explain to us that this beautiful baby should not be operate for the CI. What she is trying to say is that the baby is perfect and beautiful and why would the doctors or hearing parents want to have a Cochlear Implant on just a beautiful baby? Let the baby be natural and just be deaf no matter what. I really agree with Maria about what she is saying that it is important for children to be natural the way they are until they grow old enough for them to understand about Cochlear Implant and if they want to have it. I don't care if deaf adult don't have speech problem or could not lipread. They can make a choice if they want to have Cochlear Implant. It is suppose to be a free country no matter how different we are. As for being deaf we are happy and we are use to it, of course we will have hearing aids which we can rely on sound. I am really against CI, because anything could happen in the operating room trying to fix the deaf to become normal hearing. Well, Surprise, surprise that it is not going to be perfectly normal hearing. They might become hard of hearing, but not perfect. So hearing people, wake up and smell the coffee. Please accept us as people and don't try to change us or fix us. It is not fair at all.

Beautiful! Bebonang, I don't believe that God was punishing us when He made us deaf. I think God is teaching other people something and it is too bad that some people failed to learn something like acceptence of difference.

 

[Liebling:-)))]

The mother said it beautifully and most of comments on the vlog as well

Is it okay for me to design myself a deaf baby?

Interesting question!!!

 

[Liebling:-)))]

Interesting question! although I had to admit that I was a bit disappointed when I found out that my kids are not deaf...

But good thing is you didn´t implant your hearing children with CI to make them deaf. Can you image what and how hearing parents reacts when they learn that we want to make our hearing children into deaf... ?


I would consider it as selfish if I want my children to be deaf to be like me.