my daughters CI activation is tomorrow

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09smijam

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she is 3 and way implanted last month. recently, i learned that the deaf community is very against this.... why?
 
i've met so many people that are deaf recently and they all ask why i know sign if i can hear. i tell them my daughter is deaf but is getting (now has) a CI. they all get furious and say i'm changing how god wants her to be. i've been looking it up online and prople seem to think what im doing is just as wrong as taking a hearing 3 year old and making her deaf. i wanted to talk to the deaf community as a whole (as much as i can at once) and see what everyone really thinks.
 
It's not frowned upon as much as long as you are giving your daughter what most of us call the "full toolbox" meaning you are giving your daughter as many communication methods as possible. In the event that your daughter ever has to go for long periods of time without her CI or ha and cannot communicate in english (or any other language) and she doesn't want to use a pen and paper then ASL is highly encouraged.

But since you already are teaching your daughter ASL and she's being given access to hearing and you've probably already tried hearing aids...there isn't much of an issue. The main argument is what if one day she hates it and wants to be in a world of silence and just be deaf but she has no means of communication but she won't because you are already using ASL...just don't drop it once she starts talking regularly which some parents do with their children...They figure since speech has been attained that ASL is no longer of importance which isn't true.
 
audree went deaf when she was a little over 1 yr old. completely. she has absolutely NO response to ANY decimal of sound. we had been doing ASL ever since she was born though because she didn't want to wear her hearing aids all the time. even when she can hear we will continuw ASL/ i love knowing sign and i think it's importnant for anyone to know.
 
Good for you guys! I think this is best and since I went deaf later in my teens I don't know ASL but slowly self teaching myself. To be honest It would make my life a lot easier ...especially in regards to post-secondary education..university is a nightmare for hearing especially cuz classes are SO big...If anyone gives you grief say that you know that she is still deaf without her CI and she is using ASL and to mind their own business
 
AliciaM said:
It's not frowned upon as much as long as you are giving your daughter what most of us call the "full toolbox" meaning you are giving your daughter as many communication methods as possible. In the event that your daughter ever has to go for long periods of time without her CI or ha and cannot communicate in english (or any other language) and she doesn't want to use a pen and paper then ASL is highly encouraged.

But since you already are teaching your daughter ASL and she's being given access to hearing and you've probably already tried hearing aids...there isn't much of an issue. The main argument is what if one day she hates it and wants to be in a world of silence and just be deaf but she has no means of communication but she won't because you are already using ASL...just don't drop it once she starts talking regularly which some parents do with their children...They figure since speech has been attained that ASL is no longer of importance which isn't true.
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I think the bolded above is probably one of the biggest misconceptions parents have. That just because their child can speak and isn't necessarily signing all the time, that they don't want or need sign language. There is a distinction between expressive and receptive language.
 
09smijam said:
i've met so many people that are deaf recently and they all ask why i know sign if i can hear. i tell them my daughter is deaf but is getting (now has) a CI. they all get furious and say i'm changing how god wants her to be. i've been looking it up online and prople seem to think what im doing is just as wrong as taking a hearing 3 year old and making her deaf. i wanted to talk to the deaf community as a whole (as much as i can at once) and see what everyone really thinks.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, if it really mattered so much why did you wait until after she got implanted to seek input from the Deaf community? I'm not against the CI at all, I just think that it's better to seek out information beforehand, and make a choice you feel good about and stand by it- rather than questioning it after the fact.
 
Online communities don't always reflect real-life perspectives, they can sometimes be a haven for extremist views and behavior. I value it, but I find the majority of opinions here on Alldeaf to be quite different in many cases from what individuals in the Deaf community express in my everyday life. If you've been using ASL with your child for years, you have probably made some connections with the deaf community in your area -- have people expressed opinions that lead you to think they are against HAs and CIs for your child?

You are in a unique position to know what's best for your child.
 
Bottesini said:
Not true.

What brought you here to discuss this?
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I am with her.

I am very involved with the deaf community. There are many CI users of course they all know ASL. I strongly support for any kids who are deaf to know ASL and if they want to learn how to speak, then they would like to. SO the deaf kids can learn both ASL and speaking. This is going to be fine.
 
09smijam said:
she is 3 and way implanted last month. recently, i learned that the deaf community is very against this.... why?
Click to expand...



not sure she have implant?
means perspective learn how deaf community, analyzable CI her good understood

she is implant, it is pretty almost to 1 monthly process take an, pretty few an time! depend your lots of variety!
I don't think so deaf community is not against!

you learn

you observe her? you notice involved deaf community?
 
Bottesini said:
Not true.

What brought you here to discuss this?
Click to expand...

Well, there are pretty much split opinion on CI in Deaf world. Some believed that cochlear implant kill “Deaf Culture” while other had no issue with it. I know quite several people who are very against CI and we always debate over that.

To 09smijam – I would encourage you watch documentary movie called "Sound and Fury". It’s pretty good documentary about woman on her journey with CI and that you will see how Deaf community react/opinion about that.
 
you know there's also a follow up to Sound and Fury? Like 10 years later or something. You can find it on Youtube. The Deaf family all got CIs (except for the dad, he chose to stay Deaf). Mom and all kids.
 
Deaf family? Is the ones that their daughter wanted to have CI, but seemly forced her decision to not have CI?
 
09smijam said:
she is 3 and way implanted last month. recently, i learned that the deaf community is very against this.... why?
Click to expand...

This isn't actually true (anymore).

The Deaf community 15+years ago had a very different perspective on CI, largely because the benefit was much less of a sure thing - the technology has improved drastically in the last 15 years, and more educators and families are realizing that the former "CI=oral only, no sign" approach was actually detrimental to the recipients not beneficial as they'd professed.

The main issue with CI, and HA for hoh and deaf children is that the children still be given access to sign language - for many reasons, not the least of which is that a child with a CI or HA is still a hoh/deaf child. Also there are situations in which the CI or HA must be removed, may break, or when background noises etc are such that the user isn't able to actually understand anything they hear (especially speech).

The reality is that Sign Language is always a benefit, even if it's not "needed" daily. It creates an environment where a child can grow up bilingual (always an advantage) and have one language that doesn't rely on hearing to communicate fully. It's also worth noting that bi-lingual kids are better able to learn additional languages later on ... so if they want to take Spanish, French, German etc in school they already have an understanding of how different languages work (and their brains are "wired" to understand multiple languages & language rules etc).


The Deaf community isn't so much (now) against CI as it is against the idea of professionals continuing the myth that CI kids are better off with only one language, and not signing ... an approach which has been less successful for decades, yet is still unfortunately "pushed" by some professionals/CI centres/schools etc.


I know a number of Deaf with CI - they sign and speak, they're part of the Deaf/ASL community etc ... they (like me) balance living in the Hearing and Deaf worlds. Is it easy all the time - no, but very little in life is truly "easy" and almost everything that is "worth it" takes work to manage.
 
cdmeggers said:
Yes. Mom and all kids have CIs now, dad chose to stay deaf.
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Wow... Got to see it someday. :)

Anij said:
This isn't actually true (anymore).

The Deaf community 15+years ago had a very different perspective on CI, largely because the benefit was much less of a sure thing - the technology has improved drastically in the last 15 years, and more educators and families are realizing that the former "CI=oral only, no sign" approach was actually detrimental to the recipients not beneficial as they'd professed.

The main issue with CI, and HA for hoh and deaf children is that the children still be given access to sign language - for many reasons, not the least of which is that a child with a CI or HA is still a hoh/deaf child. Also there are situations in which the CI or HA must be removed, may break, or when background noises etc are such that the user isn't able to actually understand anything they hear (especially speech).

The reality is that Sign Language is always a benefit, even if it's not "needed" daily. It creates an environment where a child can grow up bilingual (always an advantage) and have one language that doesn't rely on hearing to communicate fully. It's also worth noting that bi-lingual kids are better able to learn additional languages later on ... so if they want to take Spanish, French, German etc in school they already have an understanding of how different languages work (and their brains are "wired" to understand multiple languages & language rules etc).


The Deaf community isn't so much (now) against CI as it is against the idea of professionals continuing the myth that CI kids are better off with only one language, and not signing ... an approach which has been less successful for decades, yet is still unfortunately "pushed" by some professionals/CI centres/schools etc.


I know a number of Deaf with CI - they sign and speak, they're part of the Deaf/ASL community etc ... they (like me) balance living in the Hearing and Deaf worlds. Is it easy all the time - no, but very little in life is truly "easy" and almost everything that is "worth it" takes work to manage.
Click to expand...

This is interesting... That showed how much I have not socialize with deaf people for more than 15 years. Glad that Deaf World have soften their approach on CI.
 
I just wanted to add:

I grew up in an oral environment - I asked repeatedly to learn ASL and was told no. To the outside world I got along "well", but it wasn't true. I spent hours in classes missing most of the teacher's speech, and almost all of my classmates comments. I had to learn my lessons at home, because I didn't understand what was explained in class. I frequently did the wrong homework assignments, because I misheard what page & questions etc to do (teachers refused to write assignments on the board) ... eventually I just started doing every question on every page and handing it all in which took hours longer than the assigned homework. Because of my hard work, I was able to get As and Bs and was in IB in high school

It looked to them like I was "passing" as a "hearing person" even though I've always had and affirmed a solid Hoh and Deaf Identity. People - my family, teachers, even professionals who should have been helping me, didn't want to see what was really going on (and as a shy person, I wasn't willing to share).

Finally when I turned 18, I went to college in the USA, started taking ASL classes and found out how EASY things could be using ASL, TTY, signallers etc!

When I went back to college a few years ago (at 30) I requested ASL interpreters and had a totally different, amazing and positive experience. Even though I speak very well (so I elected to voice for myself in class) having the interpreters there to interpret for my profs and classmates was a 300% improvement over trying to get by speechreading and listening alone.

It's hard not to think back to my k-12 school years and not be a bit angry that even though I knew enough to ask to learn ASL, I was denied it.

More, it's hard not to wonder how much better I would have done in classes, if I'd actaully been able to follow the teacher. Or, how much more time I'd have to be a kid (play with friends) if in jr high, I wasn't already nightly doing 3-4hours of homework, instead of 30-60mins ... just to make sure I did the correct questions.

I'm grateful that I just so happen to have good speech, and (in quiet) can use my residual hearing (& HA) to understand various things including spoken language - however I'm even more grateful for learning ASL and having it as an additional language I can use in settings in which hearing/understanding isn't possible/reliable such as university, church, lectures, conferences, malls etc with lots of background noise and distractions.

It's "all or nothing" that's an issue ...
I'm proud to be able to communicate in English and ASL - it's made a huge positive difference in my life. (and I desperately wish I'd had the benefit of growing up with both)
 
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09smijam said:
audree went deaf when she was a little over 1 yr old. completely. she has absolutely NO response to ANY decimal of sound. we had been doing ASL ever since she was born though because she didn't want to wear her hearing aids all the time. even when she can hear we will continuw ASL/ i love knowing sign and i think it's importnant for anyone to know.
Click to expand...

Did you know that back in the day HAs were demonized? The C=I debate is still pretty active.....but it does seem like it's getting more and more accepted every day. If she maxed out on her hearing aids......AWESOME!!!! She has the CI as an option. She also has an advantage b/c she had access to sound as a baby....You did the right thing 100%
 
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