When we, as citizens, as people, consume the information around us, it’s important to view it with a critical eye. This usually means challenging the information that comes to you via TV, Internet, friends, family, and teachers. Just because the source is authoritative does not mean one should not do their research.
I submit to you, Deaf Echo, exhibit A of a boiling soup of misinformation, information, facts, and lies, all in one easy spot. On Reddit, a site that I sometimes visit, there was recently a post entitled “8 mo old deaf baby’s reaction to cochlear implant being activated, priceless [vid]“.
Before I proceed with my thoughts, here’s the video in question:
The video itself is pretty cute, but what was shocking was the number of commenters in Reddit that simply didn’t understand what they were talking about, and the number of people who agreed with them.
Instead of quoting various comments (simply read the comments yourself) I’m going to summarize the gist of many of them:
Negative
- Sign language is not worth learning because speaking is just… vastly superior! Duh.
- Being deaf is a defect, but it doesn’t make you an inferior person. It’s a defect though, no way around it.
- Deaf people have a separate culture? Claptrap. Hogwash.
- Deaf parents who prevent their children from getting cochlear implants are vicious, ignorant, bigoted monsters. All of those things can be proven rationally.
Positive
- A lot of people tend to overestimate how much help these technologies have to offer, especially for certain types of hearing loss.
- Various exclamations of delight over the child’s reaction
- For many people, being deaf is literally like being part of an exclusive club. Many people see it as an advantage rather than a disability, in that it allows their other senses to develop better.
There are many videos on YouTube of cochlear implant activations.
The thing that strikes me the most with these videos is how impacted the child is. The unfortunate reality though is that while the experience of activation and having a cochlear implant is somewhere between useless and helpful for most, it doesn’t change the most fundamental thing about a deaf child.
They are still deaf when the cochlear implant is off. Nothing (yet) will change that. So it is really important to focus on building a positive identity that includes the deafness and provide a visual language (like sign language) that is fully accessible.
At the same time we have to acknowledge the reality that parents will have that impulse to bring a deaf child into the hearing world because that is what seems to be the right thing. As you can see in the various reddit comments, many people were brought to tears at the beauty of the moment, at the deaf child finally hearing sound. And that is something that most hearing people truly care about.
How do we bring those two worlds together without dragging deaf children through the ghetto?
