Two Worlds

In this movie about deaf and hearing cultures, there were multiple heated arguments about whether or not a Cochlear implant was right for children in this deaf-cultured family. Some arguments throughout the movie were that once the kids learn how to speak and hear with their Cochlear implant, they would leave the deaf culture completely behind and never look back.

With the two parents that were deaf and had deaf children, their five-year-old daughter heard about the implant and asked her parents for one. While considering it, the mother thought about getting one herself. The father, along with the wife's parents, thought it would be a bad idea--they decided for her that she wouldn't be interested in their family anymore once she was older and could communicate with people in "the hearing world". All she wanted to do, though, was fit in and understand hearing people, instead of struggling to comprehend what they're saying. Eventually they decided to move to a deaf community in Maryland. Although I thought that was good for their kids as well as the parents, I didn't think it had an actual solution to the "problem" that their kids would face later on in life when they have to communicate with "the hearing world".

In another part of this deaf-cultured family, the two hearing parents had twins, one hearing and one deaf. They decided to give their infant baby a Cochlear implant so he could be in "the hearing world". With that came more disputes about the subject. What I didn't understand, however, was why it would be a bad thing if these kids were both in the hearing world and the deaf world, as some of the parents were as well as the parents with the twins in this movie.

Something else the family argued about was that whether giving or not giving the kids this implant was abuse. I don't understand why some people had said that it was abuse if the kid did not receive a Cochlear implant. I just don't see abuse in the ability to hear or not.

All in all, I think that the parents had good points as to why their child should or shouldn't have an implant, but I think it should be the child's decision altogether. If they ask about it, do what the two deaf parents did and go meet with families or schools that have kids that have had the implant. If they don't, I'd assume that the kid is okay with being deaf and communicating with hearing people. I don't think that a child would automatically become only part of "the hearing world" if they get a Cochlear implant unless the parent(s) don't introduce sign language as part of their daily life.