I am not deaf either, but a mother of a deaf toddler who isn't able to make choices for herself yet and these are my opinions. I hope to not offend anyone =x
Do you feel that cochlear implantation will eradicate the deaf culture?
Simple answer: No. From my understanding the majority of Deaf are born to hearing parents, and yes, unfortunately many of them seem to believe that CIs are a "cure" for deafness and pretend they are no different than a hearing child. In my opinion, putting CIs on doesn't make you any less deaf, just the same as changing your accent wouldn't make you any less foreign - it gives you means of better being able to communicate with the general public, but you are still you. Even if we as parents fail to instill a sense of pride and understanding in our children that they belong to the Deaf community and are still Deaf children, I think they will find it on their own terms as they grow and search for answers and a place to truly fit in.
Are you for or against cochlear implantation?
For. I think everyone should have the opportunity to do anything someone else is doing - hearing included. Whether a person chooses to use CIs to access sound or not is totally up to them, but should most definitely be an option available. As for parents implanting their children at a young age, I think it's reasonable. Children are unable to tell you if they would like to be able to hear and the first 5 years are best for learning and understanding speech, so (((again - in my opinion))) it is completely understandable for parents to want it for their little ones. This way they can learn to use their CIs early, have a better understanding of spoken language, need to use less lip reading, and - if at some point in their child's life they do not wish to hear anymore and want to completely immerse themselves in the Deaf Community - they can turn it off. They are still Deaf no matter what hearing device they have, we are not taking that option away from them, we are giving additional options.
Please write your thoughts and anything else that you feel will help me.
I believe basic ASL should be taught in grade school during English class to all students, regardless of whether or not there are any HoH or Deaf in the school. We encourage all of these children to learn basic Spanish because it is such a popular language in the US due to all of the immigrants, but we don't even bother to push ASL even though there are a large number of citizens who only or mainly communicate this way. It just doesn't make sense to me. Getting a CI or putting one in your child does not mean they will ever be completely fluent in spoken English either - maybe, but who is to say for sure? Wouldn't it be nice to take a little bit of the pressure off of them and educate ourselves.
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