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The cochlear implant question

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Re: The cochlear implant question

#131

Post by h0l0cube »

h0l0cube wrote: post #107
jl6 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cultures come and go, arising from circumstances that can change. Does preservation of a living culture take priority over the wellbeing of its members? Perhaps a culture is something that can be decommissioned humanely.

Species come and go. Should we be concerned about the existential threat to species such as homo sapiens? Why should we limit ourselves in the present day to protect our biosphere? Everything is inescapably transient after all? Nihilism is perfectly fine as a philosophical argument, but few would support it in practice

Can’t tell if the downvoters think I’m the nihilist, or they are the nihilists.

Re: The cochlear implant question

#132

Post by stoical1 »

To dismiss deafness as merely a "disability to fix" shows a lack of understanding about Deaf culture and identity. Saying, “Deaf people are worse off because they can’t hear” is like claiming left-handed people are “worse off” because most tools are designed for right-handers. It’s not the person that’s deficient—it’s society failing to accommodate diversity.

Another frequent comment, “Give them an implant and let them choose later,” oversimplifies a complex issue. Cochlear implants don’t restore “normal” hearing—they produce robotic, limited sounds, which don’t work for everyone. Choosing implants without teaching sign language cuts children off from the Deaf community and a rich cultural identity, leaving them stranded between worlds.

Claiming that Deaf culture is “something to decommission” as if it’s outdated is not only ignorant but deeply offensive. Deaf culture is rooted in a shared language, history, and identity, much like any ethnic or linguistic community. Would you advocate for erasing small languages because they’re “less useful”? Of course not—diversity enriches us all.

The idea that “the world is designed for hearing, so fix deafness” ignores a simple truth: the world is designed by hearing people, for hearing people. With accessible design—visual alerts, captions, and sign language inclusion—Deaf individuals thrive without needing to be “fixed.”

Instead of framing deafness as a deficiency, let’s respect Deaf individuals and their right to choose how they navigate the world—whether through implants, sign language, or both. Empathy means listening, not dictating.

Re: The cochlear implant question

#134

Post by bbstats »

arjie wrote: post #59

My wife and I faced a similar situation and found it a simple decision. We both carry GJB-2 gene mutations that will likely result in profound non-syndromic hearing loss. We went through Orchid Health to get a whole genome sequence of our prospective embryos and then selected one that was not affected by the condition. We have 1 more carrier girl and 2 more unaffected girls to work with, and if we want boys later in…

This certainly is a viewpoint

Re: The cochlear implant question

#135

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

lemursage wrote: post #98

I'm "almost" a lifelong user of a cochlear implant. I got my first one when I was 9. Before I got it, I was communicating through lip reading and speaking, I never knew sign language. Lip reading I still use relatively often -- when I'm at a crowded restaurant, or at an unbearably noisy party, and there's many interlocutors at the table, I persistently stare at their lips. They take me for a great listener, when in f…

> They take me for a great listener, when in fact, I can't hear shit, and I'm desperately switching back and forth between people's mouths to catch what they're saying.

FWIW you sound like a good listener. It’s more about understanding than hearing and the dedication to understand what people are saying is the hallmark of a good listener. That said, I’m sure it helps that perception that you have to stare so attentively at whomever is talking.

Re: The cochlear implant question

#136

Post by giraffe_lady »

James_K wrote: post #120
giraffe_lady wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are people who wear glasses disabled? They have an impairment that can prevent them from full participation in work, family, social life. But they also have an accessible accommodation that mitigates most of the practical consequences of their impairment. The impairment doesn't go away, but the extent to which is it disabling is a function of the individual's relationship to society. Two people with the same impairme…

> but the extent to which is it disabling is a function of the individual's relationship to society No it's not. It's a function of the person's relationship to glasses. The same way deaf people are no longer disabled when you restore their hearing. The only difference is that we can all obviously see that depriving children of glasses for the sake of forming a "blind community" is an utterly ridiculous thing to do.…

Man what do you want to use as shorthand for the entity that produces hearing aids, glasses, wheelchairs, and medicine? And describes why some people have access to them and some don’t? I'm open to a novel nomenclature here I'm just pointing out that there already is an established framework for talking about and thinking about this stuff we could use instead.

Re: The cochlear implant question

#137

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

snakeyjake wrote: post #101

Three years ago I paid $47k for my deaf nephew to get implants because his fully-insured deaf parents wouldn't pay for them. Not $47k just the out of pocket ($2k-3k-ish). I paid $47k and I got a deal because it was cash. They wanted him to live in and embrace the "deaf world". He wanted to live in the actual real world. They ended up nearly irreparably fucking up his life and denying him the only thing that he wanted…

> Maybe I should have not gotten a spinal fusion because of the rich tapestry and long history of "living in constant excruciating pain due to degenerative disc disease" culture?

Surely you can argue better than to provide such a clear and obvious false equivalence. It is a matter of fact that there is a distinct culture among those who communicate via sign language and not so that there is a distinct culture among those who... what? They don’t like surgery in general? They don’t like that specific surgery? Why would you even bring that up as a comparison to Deaf culture?

Re: The cochlear implant question

#138

Post by eddd-ddde »

seanw444 wrote: post #82
arjie wrote: post #59

My wife and I faced a similar situation and found it a simple decision. We both carry GJB-2 gene mutations that will likely result in profound non-syndromic hearing loss. We went through Orchid Health to get a whole genome sequence of our prospective embryos and then selected one that was not affected by the condition. We have 1 more carrier girl and 2 more unaffected girls to work with, and if we want boys later in…

> We went through Orchid Health to get a whole genome sequence of our prospective embryos and then selected one that was not affected by the condition. It's pretty nuts to me that we're at this point now. Eugenics is about to become mainstream.

Honestly I'm looking to a future where no one has to worry anymore about hereditary conditions. If we can eradicate viruses we should also be able to manage this.

Re: The cochlear implant question

#139

Post by rangestransform »

seanw444 wrote: post #82
arjie wrote: post #59

My wife and I faced a similar situation and found it a simple decision. We both carry GJB-2 gene mutations that will likely result in profound non-syndromic hearing loss. We went through Orchid Health to get a whole genome sequence of our prospective embryos and then selected one that was not affected by the condition. We have 1 more carrier girl and 2 more unaffected girls to work with, and if we want boys later in…

> We went through Orchid Health to get a whole genome sequence of our prospective embryos and then selected one that was not affected by the condition. It's pretty nuts to me that we're at this point now. Eugenics is about to become mainstream.

How does that square with the obligation that parents have to their children to make their lives suck less?

Re: The cochlear implant question

#140

Post by rangestransform »

sheepscreek wrote: post #24

I like this pragmatism because it sheds light on the realities of life. People live their experience in a muddy grey world, which is far less crystal than any activist would like to imagine. Activism thrives on polarizing individuals and circumstances, more so off-late. We could call it politicization. Either way, I believe that it’s more harmful than helpful. That polarizing the PoVs of individuals makes them more a…

As a left hander, I highly recommend you don’t do this, I remember reading some article that forcibly switching handedness makes someone more stupid (severely paraphrasing here)

I don’t find left handedness super disabling, I still learned to use right handed things where necessary (mouse and violin mostly), but for the most part left handedness is adequately accommodated

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