The Controversy Over Cochlear Implants
A great divide in the Deaf community have taken sides over whether they believe cochlear implants are a “medical miracle or ethnic genocide” (Controversy Over Cochlear Implants). Cochlear implants serve as a tool for deaf people to be given a chance to hear the world around them. However, many people in the Deaf community believe that given the option to take a chance on nerve damage and be given the chance to hear is not worth the risk at hand. Also many believe that the implants inhibit you from living with the “Deaf experience” such as using sign language. Much of this controversy is due to the fact that they see being deaf as a disability, which can be defined as an “impairment or something that puts one to a disadvantage.”
The history of cochlear implants is important because this debate has been going on for over a few centuries now. Deaf people have been placed in asylums and given intense oral therapy sessions in an attempt to make them more like people who have hearing. One of the therapies used was someone pouring scalding hot water …show more content…
Although the sounds coming from the implant sound much different than what we hear this enables a person to hear sounds, which they wouldn’t have been able to hear before. Surgery for implantation of cochlear implants involve doctors placing electrodes on the auditory nerve, which helps transmit sound waves into the ear canal. With the surgery, a person is able to become more mainstream and communicate better with others in society. There is also said to be more jobs available for a person with cochlear implants. However, cochlear implants are not for everyone. Although Deaf people are given the option to to hear for the first time, many people seem to want to opt out of the decision to receive cochlear implants because it will take away from their ‘cultural
A great divide in the Deaf community have taken sides over whether they believe cochlear implants are a “medical miracle or ethnic genocide” (Controversy Over Cochlear Implants). Cochlear implants serve as a tool for deaf people to be given a chance to hear the world around them. However, many people in the Deaf community believe that given the option to take a chance on nerve damage and be given the chance to hear is not worth the risk at hand. Also many believe that the implants inhibit you from living with the “Deaf experience” such as using sign language. Much of this controversy is due to the fact that they see being deaf as a disability, which can be defined as an “impairment or something that puts one to a disadvantage.”
The history of cochlear implants is important because this debate has been going on for over a few centuries now. Deaf people have been placed in asylums and given intense oral therapy sessions in an attempt to make them more like people who have hearing. One of the therapies used was someone pouring scalding hot water …show more content…
Although the sounds coming from the implant sound much different than what we hear this enables a person to hear sounds, which they wouldn’t have been able to hear before. Surgery for implantation of cochlear implants involve doctors placing electrodes on the auditory nerve, which helps transmit sound waves into the ear canal. With the surgery, a person is able to become more mainstream and communicate better with others in society. There is also said to be more jobs available for a person with cochlear implants. However, cochlear implants are not for everyone. Although Deaf people are given the option to to hear for the first time, many people seem to want to opt out of the decision to receive cochlear implants because it will take away from their ‘cultural