Hearing

When people think about hearing loss, they generally don't think about the impact hearing loss has on our society as a whole, not to mention the impact it has on a large segment of our population who live with the loss of their hearing on a daily basis. Hearing loss has been linked to higher unemployment rates, depression, dementia, increased mortality and more. Additionally, hearing loss is one of the most common, widespread conditions that affects about a third of our adult population and…

d/Deaf children with d/Deaf parents. Despite a large number of hearing parent having d/Deaf children only about 10% of those families actually, learn to communicate with their children effectively. (TEDxTalk. 2013. 5:15 – 5:47). This obviously leads to many developmental and psychological issues in deaf children with hearing parents. The disconnect adds to feelings of isolation and oddness that is already felt by deaf children in the hearing world. On the contrary, deaf children born to d/Deaf…

disabled and inferior, when in fact their lives just as colorful and important as lives of hearing people. Ignorance often leads to fear and when people are afraid of something their first instance is to attack it which often leads in suppression of people who are different.…

Historical Events is a theme that appears in Deaf literature to show the struggles and achievements that the Deaf community faced throughout the years. The Deaf community as a whole has faced many obstacles such as being considered unintelligent, disabled, and unable to perform in a normal society. Through the years the community has also achieved many significant things for example, the student, faculty and members of the Deaf community around the Gallaudet University fought for the first deaf…

to cochlear implants. (Cite). Cochlear implants is a good option for children who has profound hearing loss. However, if a “child has residual hearing and has a partial benefit from conventional hearing aids, he or she could lose this hearing because of cochlear implementation” (cite pg. 605). A child with a cochlear implant is typically viewed as not being part of the deaf community nor the hearing community. This can cause a parent to be concern about how their child will function and fit in…

gestured. If we placed ourselves in a room filled with hearing people, we all have equal access to one another’s conversations. We may not know what is being discussed in the conversations around us, but we can hear it happening. Now if we put a Deaf person in this room of a hundred voices, he/she will not know what is going on. He/she will have no access to the conversations around them. It would be the same situation was reversed. If we put a hearing person in a room full of Deaf people,…

In mainstream society, we, as hearing people, tend to consider deafness as a defect. We tend to look at them with a feeling of pity. If they success in the hearing world, we will applaud them for overcoming a severe deficiency. We tend to consider signing as an inferior replacement for “real” language such as English or Spanish. We believe that all Deaf people will try to lip-read when communicating with hearing people as the only way to interact. Finally, when we heard about the devices such as…

In previous years my mind has always been very controversial about cochlear implants. ive grown up with two deaf cousins that don 't have cochlear implants. After getting their opinions and hearing other deaf peoples opinion, some with cochlear implants some without, i have finally made up my mind. I have come to the conclusion that i don 't agree with cochlear implants because deafness is a natural thing, not a disability that needs to be fixed. If i had a child who was eligible for cochlear…

Background: Michael who is an only child and is five years of age entering the school setting for the first time as a kindergartener has recently been diagnosed with hearing loss and a speech disorder. He convenes with a speech therapist 3x a week because he hasn’t learned to speak properly. His parents are worried about his placement in school and wants for him to be evaluated by a Psychologist because of their concern of their son not being able to make friends and their deep concern of his…

As I got up to leave after my very first sign language class, I remember seeing my friend who has a hearing impairment and running to her to show her what I had just learnt. Being only thirteen years of age at the time, I was excited to show off something new and impressive; however it soon became apparent that for her this was something far more valuable. Sheer joy radiated from her, almost as though I had given her a voice. This happiness was as a result of me signing just a few words, and it…