I am totally overwhelmed with the amount of positive feedback regarding my blog. Unfortunately, positivity is not always a part of life. There is strong opposition to cochlear implants in the deaf community, a fact that many people in the hearing world find surprising and which I wanted to address. Before beginning to jump up and down for joy that my Alex is going to hear, I had to research both points of view. There are a number of websites and forums from the deaf community who have strong reservation about the choice to implant. The following website has many arguments why implants are not the best choice, especially for young children and infants: http://www.cochlearwar.com/index.html. They resent the fact that some think of CI as a "cure for deafness" saying that deafness is not to be cured. Alex will always be deaf, when his CIs come off he will not hear but I feel based on our families current situation, even hearing most of the time is better then never. It is not to be selfish or because we are too lazy to sign, it is because we want all of Alex's doors to be open and he can make the ultimate decision when he is old enough.
I am truly sorry if anyone is bothered by my thoughts. My goal is not to insult, nor to convince but to share and hope Alex and us will be accepted by the deaf community. Just a few thoughts...
Keep up the good work for your child, You are his voice! Hi, I am Val Blakely's mother. I have tried to be there and to help Val in anyway that I could so I do know what has to be done, but when the day is done you have help your baby.
ReplyDeleteHi Ann,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support, it really means a lot. It's nice we have this in common. I will be following your blog as well. ttyl :-)