Why Cochlear Implants Hurt Deaf Culture?

I remember that people said the same thing about HA's and they are totally accepted as a part of deaf culture- just as CI's will be - with time.
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:confused: I don't remember they said the same thing about hearing aids?? Hearing aids been there for a very long time, even since I was a baby. Do you have proof to back your claim up?
 
Cheri said:
:confused: I don't remember they said the same thing about hearing aids?? Hearing aids been there for a very long time, even since I was a baby. Do you have proof to back your claim up?
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I don't have the notes from my classes taken at RIT/NTID, as it was 10 years ago - but this topic came up repeatedly in my class and was stated as fact by the teachers. It also came up in many "Deaf Culture" symposiums/discussions.

I've also seen this brought forth in other forums (deafnotes.com , helpkidhear.org and even on THIS forum!)

http://www.alldeaf.com/showthread.php?p=361557 below is the quote from this thread:

and soon the "Deaf" community will be diminishing.
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deafdyke said:
I doubt it. Yeah, the number of stereotypically Deaf folks (no CIs or hearing aids and have never had speech therapy) may shrink....although there ARE folks out there who have chosen an ASL-only approach for their kids, but that doesn't mean that the Deaf Community is going to die out. The experts probaly thought that hearing aids were the end of the deaf community....yet here we are sixty or seventy years later! The Deaf community is STILL active and still thriving. Many experts thought that CIs would end deaf culture by now....*looks around* Looks like we're still here and STILL thriving!
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The rise of cochlear implant started back in 1900's as trial then became reality in 1960's It was never intended to eradicate deaf culture. This is what culturally deaf folks wants us to believe. it is all politics. Just like what they did with hearing aid. See, how come, no one protested on CI back in 1960's ?

How come we are not protesting the rise of technology that will let us stay at home and chat behind the screen instead of doing the traditional time tried method of meeting in person every specific day like every wednesday at "The Cellar" to plan for the weekend and ahead like we do at NTID back in 80's but that all change with improvement of TTY and Computers. Now came pagers that allow us to text message each others. the traditional method of meeting together declined. oh I forgot the rise of forums like this one. even though we used to have a bulletin board back in 80 and 90's but they are clunky and crude. now Internet is everywhere.

so the advancement of technology OUTPACE the culturally deaf folks' needs to stay in the past. Time to move on! and what's more all those technology is making us MORE independent so thus therefore, they are starting to look into CI to be able to blend into mainstream than stay isolated at home behind the screen. I don't mean you all but we get the idea anyway...

The same is true for those hearing folks. They socialize MORE than ever before. (ie: cell phones thus making the need to meet friends in person obselete and now we have video in cellphone... so one can be everywhere while chatting with friend oversea.)

Those culturally deaf folks wants us to stay deaf so we will be forced to move slowly.. frak this.. I am moving ahead of them.. frak them! They (deaf culture) should not control me.

I don't mind see "deaf culture" resting in a museum and we can continue to teach people the history about deaf culture.

and what's more a "culture" WILL change anyway.. :)

Cheers
 
neecy said:
I don't have the notes from my classes taken at RIT/NTID, as it was 10 years ago - but this topic came up repeatedly in my class and was stated as fact by the teachers. It also came up in many "Deaf Culture" symposiums/discussions.

I've also seen this brought forth in other forums (deafnotes.com , helpkidhear.org and even on THIS forum!)

http://www.alldeaf.com/showthread.php?p=361557 below is the quote from this thread:
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neecy, the "deaf community" will thrive but it is the "deaf culture" that will stay the same and never improving thanks to culturally deaf folks (ie: deaf power folks)
 
neecy,

Ummm, Ok neecy, but hearing aids been around for a long time, I even wore it too and never heard a debates from the deaf community how hearing aids was a problem within the community in real life. ;)
 
Boult said:
The rise of cochlear implant started back in 1900's as trial then became reality in 1960's It was never intended to eradicate deaf culture. This is what culturally deaf folks wants us to believe. it is all politics. Just like what they did with hearing aid. See, how come, no one protested on CI back in 1960's ?
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It wasn't popluar back then hearing aids were popluar back in the old days. How come I never heard of CI until the high school years, because nobody talked about CI when I was growing up. ;)
 
Cheri said:
neecy,

Ummm, Ok neecy, but hearing aids been around for a long time, I even wore it too and never heard a debates from the deaf community how hearing aids was a problem within the community in real life. ;)
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Well here's to hoping that maybe 40 - 50 years down the road when others are born into a culture where CI's have been the norm, just like hearing aids, it won't be a problem either.
 
Cheri said:
neecy,

Ummm, Ok neecy, but hearing aids been around for a long time, I even wore it too and never heard a debates from the deaf community how hearing aids was a problem within the community in real life. ;)
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You and I were kids when the debate over hearing aids raged.. I wasn't aware about this either.. but when I was in NTID, I learned about that and yes there were controversy over hearing aid at NTID and Gallaudet because they thought "deaf culture" means stay deaf and technology that help hears should be banned but lots of us don't care about those folks and won out.. they gave up and accepted then started wearing hearing aids anyway.. just like it is happening to us with CI. I was anti-ci now I got tired of deaf culture folks. and researched on CI so now I have it.
 
neecy said:
Well here's to hoping that maybe 40 - 50 years down the road when others are born into a culture where CI's have been the norm, just like hearing aids, it won't be a problem either.
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Well, The differences between hearing aids and CI, is that hearing aids don't need to required surgical procedure like CI does.
 
in addition to my post above. we have to remember that there are more than 25 millions deaf and hard of hearing folks that became deaf at birth or became deaf at later ages. it is huge number than those culturally deaf folks that may count to around 200 thousands who wants to prevent CI like they tried to prevent HA in the past. all those latened deaf folks are not going to listen to those such folks.

just like they whined about the terminology "hearing impaired" while most of us in the DHH community that also include latened deaf folks who accepted this terminology. I am one of them. I understood what it means. but those folks who whined about CI and HA since lately are whining about this terminology too. they always misunderstood what it means. like "my ears isn't broken, I am just deaf" I say YES your ear is broken not just the "outer ear" it is either middle or inner ear duh!
 
ButterflyGirl said:
You are right about that but sadly there are some CI'ers who have thrown away their deaf friends and the deaf world. They even label themselves as hearing not deaf. They get upset if we label them as deaf/hoh.
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That's means they were never your true friend cause true friends will always still be your friend no matter if they're implanted with CI or not, and they should know by now that CI isn't a cure...

I'm truly sorry that it had happened to you, but you got me :hug:
 
^Angel^ said:
That's means they were never your true friend cause true friends will always still be your friend no matter if they're implanted with CI or not,
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I couldn't have said that any better myself. :cheers:
 
like reading lips, every time I visited Dr appt or others, at college, store and e.t.c., they always asked me, Can u read lip? they will may ask can u hear? or do u have CI? dunno

My younger daughter recently is going to school, ECEAP, I always was offered/talked about CI I have told them I dont want to force my daughter at this early age, she's only 2 yrs old! over-over *sigh* seems they dont care to improve better program for deaf children but asking for CI instead, my both daughters are going to mainstream in this town

more CI and able to read lips people involving in hearing world would forget about deaf school, deaf social, deaf event and e.t.c. in deaf world
 
Cheri said:
It wasn't popluar back then hearing aids were popluar back in the old days. How come I never heard of CI until the high school years, because nobody talked about CI when I was growing up. ;)
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Maybe they didn't think CI will benefit so many deaf children who now is able to hear so much more than the use of hearing aids, and later it's slowly become aware to many of us , then more people recognize young children has shown much improvement with their speech and language develop, and that's gives some parent a wake-up call by knowing there something out there that can make a big difference in a deaf child's life by being able to hear much more and being part of both hearing and the deaf world...
 
Cheri said:
It wasn't popluar back then hearing aids were popluar back in the old days. How come I never heard of CI until the high school years, because nobody talked about CI when I was growing up. ;)
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One biggest reason was that the insurance did not cover that back then. It was considered "expermential" back then so many insurance companies balked at it back then but I did have a few friends getting it during my high school in 1980's. I remember this friend LIsa who got hers in 1984 because her parents could afford the surgery fees, etc. But the CI s back then werent very efficient - it is like technology. Technology improved over the years so that is why CI s nowadays are more successful. Now insurance companies are looking at bilateral implants because they are learning that bilateral implants are even more successful.

Now almost all of insurance companies, even Medicaid or state sponsored health fund, covers CI so that is why we are hearing more and more about young children getting implanted.
 
^Angel^ said:
Maybe they didn't think CI will benefit so many deaf children who now is able to hear so much more than the use of hearing aids, and later it's slowly become aware to many of us , then more people recognize young children has shown much improvement with their speech and language develop, and that's gives some parent a wake-up call by knowing there something out there that can make a big difference in a deaf child's life by being able to hear much more and being part of both hearing and the deaf world...
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Exactly.

When my niece was born in 1994, my brother and his wife discovered that she was deaf but they were wary about CI s then because there werent much information on that.

Five years later, they opted to have their daughter implanted with a CI because it was when there were more research and information on CI s in younger children.

My niece has drastically improved - she calls herself hard of hearing but she does use ASL now.
 
Boult said:
You and I were kids when the debate over hearing aids raged.. I wasn't aware about this either.. but when I was in NTID, I learned about that and yes there were controversy over hearing aid at NTID and Gallaudet because they thought "deaf culture" means stay deaf and technology that help hears should be banned but lots of us don't care about those folks and won out.. they gave up and accepted then started wearing hearing aids anyway.. just like it is happening to us with CI. I was anti-ci now I got tired of deaf culture folks. and researched on CI so now I have it.
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I didn't know anything about CI until I came in Alldeaf, I used to be against CI cause I only knew so little, and boy I got attacked, bushed, insult, etc from those CI users and from those who support CI... :Ohno:

Then I start reading more and more from so much CI web sites through google, and from others who posted about their CI experiences etc I didn't learn alot about it in here cause they were soo mean to me and wasn't kind enough to make me understand what I say wrong etc....
 
I found the history of Cochlear Implants:

History
The discovery that electrical stimulation to the auditory system can create a perception of sound occurred around 1790, when Alessandro Volta (the developer of the electric battery) placed metal rods in his own ears and connected them to a 50-volt circuit, experiencing a jolt and hearing a noise "like a thick boiling soup". Other experiments occurred sporadically, until electrical (sound amplifying) hearing aids began to be developed in earnest the 20th century.

The first direct stimulation of an acoustic nerve with an electrode was performed in the 1950s by the French-Algerian surgeons André Djourno and Charles Eyriès. They placed wires on nerves exposed during an operation, and reported that the patient heard sounds like "a roulette wheel" and "a cricket" when a current was applied.

In 1961, American doctor William House had Djourno's paper translated and had devices made which he implanted into three patients. In 1969, with the help of Jack Urban, House created the first wearable cochlear implant. House's technology used a single electrode and was designed to aid lip-reading. Throughout the 1970s, Melbourne, Australia, researcher Professor Graeme Clark developed implants which stimulated the cochlea at multiple points, and in 1978, Melbourne resident Rod Saunders become the first person in the world to receive a multi-channel cochlear implant.

In December 1984, the Australian cochlear implant was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to be implanted into adults in the United States. In 1990 the FDA lowered the approved age for implantation to 2 years, then 18 months in 1998, and finally 12 months in 2002, although special approval has been given for babies as young as 6 months in the United States and 4 months internationally.

Throughout the 1990s, the large external components which had been worn strapped to the body grew smaller and smaller thanks to developments in miniature electronics. Today (2006), most school-age children and adults use a small behind-the-ear (BTE) speech processor about the size of a power hearing aid. Younger children have small ears and might mishandle a BTE. Therefore, they often wear the speech processor on their hip in a pack or small harness. The processor is connected by a wire to the microphone and transmitter at ear or head level.

Since hearing in two ears allows people to localize sounds and to hear better in noisy environments, bilateral (both ear) implants are currently being investigated. Users generally report better hearing with two implants, and test show that bilateral implant users are better at localizing sounds and hearing in noise. Nearly 3000 people worldwide are bilateral cochlear implant users, including 1600 children. As of 2006, the world's youngest recipient of a bilateral implant was just over 5 months old (163 days) in Germany (2004).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant
 
^Angel^ said:
I didn't know anything about CI until I came in Alldeaf, I used to be against CI cause I only knew so little, and boy I got attacked, bushed, insult, etc from those CI users and from those who support CI... :Ohno:

Then I start reading more and more from so much CI web sites through google, and from others who posted about their CI experiences etc I didn't learn alot about it in here cause they were soo mean to me and wasn't kind enough to make me understand what I say wrong etc....
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understood. I learned about CI in NTID and I was even anti-ci that time. and when I look at the paperworks I had on ci in NTID they were all biased. nothing postive about CI so obviously the teacher was so biased against CI. but I forgot about them till I went thru my old boxes full of notebooks and papers from NTID. I am like WOW I am this dense and ignorant! I realized that we don't have much technology to research this such thing. they were only feeding us bad stuffs. now we have internet and we are able to read everything out there. . even company's website even the old forum like DN where it is full of anti-Ci users I was one of them then I evolve into pro-ci I was narrow but now I am wide. :D
 
Boult said:
understood. I learned about CI in NTID and I was even anti-ci that time. and when I look at the paperworks I had on ci in NTID they were all biased. nothing postive about CI so obviously the teacher was so biased against CI. but I forgot about them till I went thru my old boxes full of notebooks and papers from NTID. I am like WOW I am this dense and ignorant! I realized that we don't have much technology to research this such thing. they were only feeding us bad stuffs. now we have internet and we are able to read everything out there. . even company's website even the old forum like DN where it is full of anti-Ci users I was one of them then I evolve into pro-ci I was narrow but now I am wide. :D
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Boult - isn't education a wonderful thing? I hold hope that more people will do as you did, and take it upon themselves to educate themselves, and learn the truth. That is the only way the fear will be replaced by understanding and respect. I'm so glad for you.
 
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