The Interview

I have had the pleasure of e-mailing back and forth with Jessica Greenfield, she is the mother of Miller, her son who has a cochlear implant. I have written previous blog posts about Miller and his background and also Jessica and her background information but recently I sent her a series of questions that I was curious to get the answers to regarding his cochlear implant and reactions/perspectives.

1. How did you come to find out that your son needed a cochlear implant?

Our son Miller was born in Atlanta and failed his newborn hearing screening. In the US, 43 states have statutes of other regulatory language related to the universal newborn hearing screening. After a referral to the Ear, Nose and Throat physician and an Audiologist, Miller was diagnosed with a moderate - severe hearing loss. He had his hearing aids by 11 weeks. His hearing loss progressed to a Profound loss at the age of 3 1/2 and he became a candidate for a cochlear implant at that time. 

2. What led you to the decision of a cochlear implant vs. teaching him sign language?

When Miller was diagnosed with a hearing impairment, we investigated all of the communication options available including ASL. Our family chose Listening and Spoken Language for Miller that was made possible with the help of modern technology including Digital Hearing Aids and then Cochlear Implants. We wanted Miller to have the same communication mode that every member of our family and community does which is spoken English. For our family, this was not a difficult decision. 

3. Did the doctors ever mention to you your options other than the cochlear implant?

We discussed all of our communication options including ASL and TC (Total Communication or Cued Speech) with Miller's doctor and Audiologist. They encouraged us to make the decision that was best for our family. When we chose Listening and Spoken Language, we then discussed Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants further since those were the technological advances necessary for the Auditory approach we took with Miller. 

4. The school your son attended where there where other children with cochlear implants…did he feel like he was part of a community or did he feel more secluded while attending that school?

Miller loved his time at Children's Choice for Hearing and Talking (CCHAT). He mainstreamed into a normal hearing classroom at age 3 and only attended CCHAT for speech therapy after preschool. He was happy learning to listen to and speak with other Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and he is equally happy at his mainstream school where he is the only child with Cochlear Implants. He gives presentations to the other classes at school about the technology of his Implants or "bionic ears" and the other children think it is very cool. He tells everyone that, just like his glasses help him to see, his implants help him hear. 

5. Is your son happy with the cochlear implant? Does he have any pain/headaches?

Miller has never had head pain or head aches from his Cochlear Implants. He plays soccer and races in duathlons, running and biking competitively. Not in all of his activities has he complained of pain. Miller loves his implants - they give him access to the sounds he loves and he wears them all waking hours. He puts them on immediately when he wakes up and does not take them off until he is tucked in at night. He has a waterproof processor that he uses for beach and pool time with his friends. He also manages his own technology which includes a device that bluetooth's sound from phones, computers and tablets in lieu of headphones. 

6.Do you ever regret your decision to implant your son? 

 No. Not for a single moment. 

7. Have you ever had negative attention since implanting your young child? (I ask this question because a lot of people are against implanting children)

We have had members of the Deaf community in California protest Miller's former school and say that we've turned him (and any other child with implants) into a "cyborg".  I've never had a single person who was not a part of the Deaf community say anything negative about Miller or his implants.  Everyone else thinks Miller is pretty amazing and celebrate his abilities with Listening and Spoken Language.

 I've always thought it interesting that someone feels some type of ownership over the choices I make for my child simply because they have the same disability.  I think that you should consider who it is that is against implanting children? Cochlear implants are not the answer for everyone. They were the answer for Miller. If Miller was unable to walk and he was a candidate for a surgery that allowed him to use his legs, we would have chosen for him to walk. If Miller was blind and he was a candidate for a surgery that would allow for him to see, we would have chosen for him to see.  We are very, very grateful for the amazing technology that allows Miller to enjoy playing the piano and recorder and be the DJ for his class parties. 

These responses have helped me realize that no matter what someone chooses for their child society as a whole should be more accepting and respectful. I was especially surprised to read that the only people that protested Miller's surgery was Deaf members. This is the exact opposite of what the Deaf community projects and what ASL interpreters support. Hopefully Jessica will continue to share her story and inspire people to be supportive members of society instead of  judgmental.

 

Bianca E. Stevens

One class, two perspectives

This semester I am enrolled in a class at the University of South Florida called Cultural Diversity. In this class there are a lot of American Sign Language Interpreting majors along with speech majors. The reasons for this majority is the content that this class covers has a lot to do with the Deaf community and also addresses several different cultures and how to approach these people differently while working.
Last week on Friday morning my professor, Mr. Surrency announced that class would be different. He gave us instructions for an exercise that he felt would get his lesson across better than a lecture would do. The instructions were as follows:
"When you hear the word DEAF what do you think about? If you think about a disability, hearing loss, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and doctors I want you to go to the left side of the room. If you think about a culture, language, community, and ASL I want you to go to the right side of the room."

The class then got up and moved to whatever side of the room their perspective reflected. I was not surprised to see that all my friends that were also in the ASL interpreting track were all on the right side of the room. Several of the speech/audiology majors were sitting on the left side of the room. To my surprise the Deaf student was sitting on the left side of the room as well.

Many students whispered amongst themselves wondering why this Deaf student would reveal that she has a medical view on deafness. Admittedly I was surprised but this was exactly what I wanted to write about this semester. I wanted to address the issue of shaming certain perspectives on deafness.

After the class was split down the middle the professor then asked that everyone pair up; one person from the left with one person on the right and discuss our views. He then wanted us to argue the opposing perspective, so for example my perspective was more cultural so I had to argue the medical perspective. For me, this was not an issue since I've been conducting research this entire semester on the medical perspective, but for many of my friends' who are leaning on the cultural perspective and are uneducated on the medical point of view had a very difficult time.

As a class, the professor asked us some controversial questions such as, "at what age is it appropriate to implant a child with a cochlear implant?" I was really surprised that a group of students yelled out "18! They should be able to choose for themselves!" The Deaf student in class also agreed that the child should be able to choose. What these students don't realize is that the longer you wait to get a cochlear implant the less effective it will be. If you find out that your child is profoundly Deaf at the age of 3 but you wait until they turn 18 years old, it may not even be worth the surgery at that point.

Another question Mr. Surrency asked was, "If a family knows spoken English as their primary language and their child is Deaf, should they go the medical route or integrate the child in the Deaf community?" This was a more complicated question because many people stated that the family should adjust and learn sign language and introduce other deaf people to their child. However, if you think about it....what is easier? Having the whole family adjust and learn a new language or having the child adjust to English?  Many families choose the easier route because they want their child to be able to communicate in their primary language. 

By the end of the discussions and going back and forth I do feel that many students got the point. That no matter what your view on deafness is, we should all respect each other and what choices people choose to make. With that being said, we have a long way to go.