Cochlear Implants In The Film Sound And Fury

I. Summary (1-2 paragraphs)

The documentary Sound and Fury addresses the use of cochlear implants for individuals who are considered by a medical professional or speech and language pathologist as either deaf or hard-of-hearing. In this specific film, Heather, age 6, and Peter, who is almost 2 years of age, are individuals who, after the consultation of numerous respective occupations, believes could benefit from a cochlear implant. This documentary focuses on the fact that the implementation of a cochlear implant isn’t a simple process in terms of the decision to do so by the family to the actual procedure, as it needs to be surgically implanted. Throughout the documentary, numerous concerns are brought to light on the effects a cochlear …show more content…
Nonetheless, her parents, Peter and Nita, are reluctant to do this for their daughter, as they are both considered deaf themselves and believe that their child should remain within the deaf community. Nonetheless, Heather herself wants to get a cochlear implant due to the fact that she isn’t able to communicate with her friends at school, who are speaking. After extensive consideration, Heather’s parents choose to take her to see the proper doctors for the possibility of getting a cochlear implant. Nonetheless, after weighting the pros and cons of the implementation of a cochlear implant, Peter and Nita choose against a cochlear implant. The main reason behind this is because they fear that they may lose their child to the hearing world in addition to Heather not recognizing deaf culture anymore. However, this doesn’t please their grandparents, who are both hearing, as they believe that getting Heather a cochlear implant will give her a better life within real-world situations. They emphasize that society is struggling to adapt to the deaf community and is reluctant to learn ASL, so getting a cochlear implant will help Heather in many aspects of life. Nonetheless, Peter and Nita stand by their decision against a cochlear implant in addition to choosing to move to Maryland in which there’s a strong deaf community and a school that will allow Heather to interact …show more content…
However, I don’t know if I can necessarily say that I agree with one side more than the other. I think that there’s both positives and negatives in terms of choosing to have a cochlear implant or not. In addition, I believe that the environment in which the child is raised in and the community around them plays a major part on whether I would choose a cochlear implant or not. Thus speaking, whether I’m for or against a cochlear implant would honestly depend on the individual case presented. If everyone, or a majority, of the family is considered deaf, I would be more inclined to be against a cochlear implant, especially when you look at it from a developmental standpoint. To me, the type of person an individual becomes is generally based on their upbringing. I think it’s extremely difficult for a child to reach their full potential in life if their development is halted by not being able to communicate with their parents and others that are vital for development of life. Therefore, giving someone a cochlear implant when their entire, or a majority, of their family is deaf doesn’t necessarily make sense to me as communication will be more challenging. The child will attempt to communicate through spoken language, while the parents sole form of communication is ASL, not spoken language. In contrast, I would be for a cochlear implant if the environment in which the child is living in is