On July 20th 2013, The Economist published a very damaging article about cochlear implants, which give families with born-deaf children valuable opportunities, such as using two spoken languages in the family home.
Read: Listen Up: Technology That Lets Deaf People Hear
Team Sound Advice recommends reading the below response from the founder of the Cochlear Implant Online website, herself implanted as a young child:
Read: Listen Up: The Most Ill-Informed Article About Cochlear Implants In The Economist
Choice is a core issue with implants, and parents choose for a child’s future:
Read: The Deaf Culture versus Oral-Only Debate
Today’s parents know their options and in Ireland, child implants allow dual-country families to speak fluent English with – for example Basque, Arabic, French, Dutch, Swedish or other language/s. That’s if the baby’s hearing issues are detected early, and they get implant/s by 18 months of age.
This video also shows how cochlear implants can benefit children:
Conclusion:
Parents who choose cochlear implants for their child/ren have done huge amounts of research with much soul-searching. Accordingly their decisions deserve to be respected by others – which sadly, is not always the case.
More Reading
- What Is “The Deaf Debate” With Cochlear Implants?
- “Ninety-Five Decibels” – A Movie About Parent Choices
- The Sky’s The Limit, When Parents Are Informed (bilateral hearing)
- What Exactly Does Oral Deaf Education Involve?
- How Policy Can Lag The Grassroots Reality
- What It Feels Like … to have a deaf child
- Deaf Children ‘Can Learn Their Family Language’
- Early Implants Best For Baby’s Language Progress
