Cochlear Implant Research Paper

As happens with any minority, the media misrepresents Deaf people. They have been portrayed as disabled or isolated, for example, in Switched at Birth, a deaf character gets nearly hit by a car, starts a kitchen fire, and is robbed while her nearby deaf friend doesn’t help because he can’t hear her cries for help. In Bones, a teenage deaf girl is treated as a homicide suspect because she doesn’t immediately speak to the police (Foss 437-438). As a result of this representation, hearing people assume that deaf people would jump to any chance for a cure. Cochlear implants present a “cure” for the Deaf, but it is not as beneficial one would assume. Some believe that any deaf person who can afford the procedure should choose to receive a cochlear implant, but the decision-making process isn’t as simple as it seems. Deaf people struggle with the threat of health complications and difficulty in school in addition to loss of identity when deciding if they should take the financial risk of cochlear implantation. Consequently, the decision to do the procedure challenges Deaf people around the world, and most people don’t listen to these concerns, making the decision even more difficult.
How Cochlear Implants Work
If you have ever met a Deaf person, chances are that person wears a hearing …show more content…
One influential part of Deaf culture is the schools for the deaf. These schools can give specific help to their students because they all use the same language and can relate to each other. Students do not need to worry about using an interpreter to understand their teachers and peers, and they can surround themselves with people with similar experiences. Most students with cochlear implants attend hearing schools, where they do not receive this same treatment and may fall behind (Rich et al.