This ABC News article discusses the debate between living life as deaf or with diminished hearing, or having technological assistance through the use of hearing aids or a cochelar implant.
One of the first things my wife and I noticed when learning about Drew's options was that many of the professionals we saw "danced around" certain topics, and wouldn't give thier opinions on certain things. At first we didn't understand why.
We have come to discover that (in our opinion) there is a pretty heated debate between those who believe in the use of cochlear implants and/or hearing aids, and those that do not. There is similar passion between those who believe in ASL (American Sign Language) as a sole means of communication and those who embrace Auditory-Verbal or Auditory-Oral communication.
In my limited experience so far, it seems that many people whom are deaf have a stong sense of being in the "deaf community", and some believe that it is disgraceful for another deaf individual to "turn thier back" on that culture by having cochlear implant surgery.
This article highlights the strong sense of community that many deaf people have, as well as thier great successes without technological assistance. I will post my opinions on the matter in a later post.
If you have an opinion, please leave a comment.
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