Deaf Culture and View on Cochlear Implants Essay Example

hearing world, they have unwritten rules and regulations that a deaf person must follow to be considered a “capital D deaf. There is a difference between being Deaf and being deaf. Being Deaf (with a big “D”) refers to being an active member of the deaf community, regardless of degree of hearing loss. Being deaf (with a little “d”) refers strictly to the amount of hearing loss (Burke “Deaf Culture…”). The Deaf community feels that if you obtain a cochlear implant, it shows you are embarrassed about your deafness, and therefore are shunned from the community.

To Deaf people, getting this implant is a disgrace, not a cure. To doctors, it is a major medical breakthrough.Depending on one’s view, or hearing status, a cochlear implant can be interpreted in different ways; there are negative and positive views on getting a cochlear implant. With all the medical advances our world makes each day, it is not a surprise that a development like the cochlear implant exists. Contrary to one’s assumption that someone who spends so much money on such a dangerous neural surgery would receive the gift of hearing in return, the reality of the cochlear implant is that the person who obtains the implant does not actually “hear” (Bragg 40).During the procedure, electrodes inserted into the inner ear are connected to an outside device similar to a hearing aid in size, which is then connected to another device used to translate speech into a series of beeps, which the person is trained to understand as words.

(Padden 309) There are two types of implants, single and multi-channeled, there is controversy about which is more effective,

but neither of them allows a patient to hear the same way as a hearing person does. “They must learn… to interpret electrical buzzes, pops and noises sent to the auditory nerve (via the electrode) as ‘sound. ” The surgery itself is often misunderstood to be a simple procedure, but it is not. It involves drilling into the bone behind the ear and placing an implant directly into the cochlea, which destroys irreplaceable tissues (Padden 311). Because of this destruction of tissue, natural hearing is destroyed; a person who has too much residual hearing can be rejected from receiving an implant, as well as can a person born deaf, because the surgery would not be as successful.

(Burke “Qualifying for…”) The movie, Sweet Nothing In My Ear deals with the conflict within the Deaf community.It focuses on the hearing and deaf perspectives of a cochlear implant. The young Deaf mother is worried about the implant for her deaf son. She doesn’t want him to regain his hearing and grow away from her, but she wants to give him the best life he can have. But his hearing father insists that the son needs it. This is the argument from the hearing dad’s perspective – you should give your child a chance to lead a normal non-handicapped life.

The grandfather, who is deaf, thinks the idea of getting the grandson a cochlear implant is preposterous. He is a typical-minded Deaf man.Although he suspects on the inside that his grandson will live a more successful and happier life being able to communicate with the hearing world, he is letting his deaf pride get in the way of

what would be his grandson’s best interest. Deaf people often let their views about the importance of their culture intervene with what is really most important (Bragg, 21). This movie and the characters’ standpoints show exactly what the cochlear implant controversy is about, and what most people go through when trying to decide whether or not to get their child an implant.

A person with a cochlear implant is technically still deaf.However, within deaf culture regulations, she/he does not fulfill the qualifications of being a so-called, “capital ‘D’ Deaf” (Burke, 171). With a cochlear implant, according to the hearing world, you are deaf with a bit of hearing. According to the deaf world you are hard of hearing, not deaf. You have lost your deaf pride; therefore you are in danger of losing your respect from the entire deaf community.

The Deaf community feels betrayed if one of its members goes over to the hearing world: Because deaf people cannot communicate within this hearing world, they are isolated.The Deaf culture’s view on the cochlear implant is conflicted. Many look upon it as a curse. They see it as a doctor’s evil plan to destroy their heritage, to reduce their culture into nothing. To others, the cochlear implant opens a variety of choices for deaf people. They feel that their personal benefit is more important than being defined by their deafness.

This implant gives people a choice. And no choice comes without a cost. Works Cited Bragg, Lois. Deaf World.

New York, London: NYU Press, 2001 Burke, Jamie. Cochlear Implants. 26 January 2008. About. com.

Qualifying for a Cochlear Implant. ” 2008 <http://deafness. about. com/cs/cochlearfeatures/a/cochlearimplant. htm>.

"Deaf Population in the United States" Gallaudet University Library October 2007.

<http://library. gallaudet. edu/deaf-faq-stats-us. shtml> Padden, Carol. “GLAD Publishes Position Paper on Cochlear Implants.

” Deaf World. Ed. Lois Bragg. New York: NYU Press, 2001. 309-315 “History of American Sign Language” Visual Dictionary of Sign Language Butterworth Rod R.

Berkley Publishing Group 1995 “Sweet Nothing In My Ear” Joseph Sargent 20 April 2008