More on CI's

My last post about the CI was to leave you thinking. Hopefully you did just that. After much consideration on the subject, I feel it is not my "place" to speak further about my opinion on whether getting a CI is important or not. I am not the one affected by Deafness and I cannot even begin to imagine a life filled with complete silence. I also could not even begin to have a complete understanding of what it means to have "Deaf pride" because I am not a true member of that community. Therefore, I do not feel it is right for me to judge whether one should consider a CI or not.

On the other hand, I will say that we should always be proud of who we are and what we have become. It is important to have confidence in yourself - not your material things. With or without hearing, we all experience heartache, love, happiness, pain, tears, etc. Whether we are Deaf or whether we can hear, we are all people living on this earth trying (hopefully) to make the best of what God has given us.

Super Bowl Ad from 2008

Recently, we were discussing in class about Super Bowl ads and how ridiculous they can be at times. We also discussed the hype that tends to surround the Super Bowl ads. I remembered this video from 2008 because it was HUGE for the Deaf community! The fact that this commercial aired at all was terrific but during the Super Bowl!!... quite a phenomenal leap for the Deaf. This is yet another example of how far the Deaf community has come. Note: To fully understand this commercial, you must be informed that this is a famous joke told in the Deaf world.

Cochlear Implants Continued, Again

After my last post, I felt it necessary to touch on how much the CI has affected the Deaf community and its relation to communication. Stating the obvious is that many of the people who have gone through the surgery tend to switch from using ASL to using the oral method of English. For a person who has always grown up in the world of English-users, this may not seem like a problem. However, if you are a person who has grown up in the Deaf culture community, you're viewpoint may be different. Much of this is due to the same issues which the previous CBS article mentioned: changing a person's hearing ability also changes ones culture. This is an intense subject which I feel deserves some further thought on your part before I continue with my perspective. Think hard about what it would really mean to change the culture you grew up with; the culture you continue to be a part of today. In the meantime, I will leave you with this video...

Cochlear Implant Surgery

I found the following article at CBS News.com which I think does a good job at summarizing some of the issues surrounding the CI:

CBS NEWS

The Cochlear Implant Controversy

(CBS) The controversy over cochlear implants in children has many sides. For some in the deaf community, CIs are an affront to their culture, which as they view it, is a minority threatened by the hearing majority.

The deaf community feels that its way of life is fully functional, and that using American Sign Language instead of oral English gives them no disadvantage in society.

Mary Koch, who started the children's rehabilitation program at Johns Hopkins' Listening Center, says the medical world and the deaf world were split at the outset.

"The (deaf community's) perception is that there's nothing wrong. There's nothing that needs to be fixed. Our perception is, there is something that needs to be fixed. So from the very foundation, we're diverging in our perspectives," Koch says.

The deaf revolution was spawned in the 1970's. The culture rebelled against attempts by some educators in the hearing world to teach deaf children to speak English. The "oral" approach discouraged the use of sign language, yet many children - even with the most powerful hearing aids - had difficulty understanding what was supposed to be their native language.

Sigrid Cerf became deaf at the age of three, but grew up outside the deaf community, speaking English and lipreading. She remembers the strain of trying to grasp the subtleties of spoken English.

"It took a great deal of effort to put words together because all I heard were those vowels and my brain would be working and my whole body would be tensed and stressed from trying to piece words together," Cerf explains.

Cerf received a cochlear implant when she was 53, but says she understands the deaf perspective.

"The deaf community is a culture. They're much like the culture of the Hispanic community, for example, where parents who are Hispanic, or shall we say deaf, would naturally want to retain their family ties by their common language, their primary language, which is either Spanish or in our case its American Sign Language," Cerf says.

"It's difficult to accept something that would take someone's entire culture into question."

Gallaudet University - considered the "Harvard" of the deaf community - has been watched closely by all sides in the debate for its position on CIs.

Mercy Coogan, Director of Public Relations at Gallaudet, says the university doesn't have a stand on cochlear implants.

"We try to be a forum where people can look at it objectively," Coogan says. "A university is where you debate issues, then make judgments based on that debate."

Cochlear Implants Continued...

I happened to run across this informational video about CIs. Because I am more of a "visual" person, I found this much more helpful than reading words on a page. Hope you like it, too!

Cochlear Implants

While pondering on the subjects I have touched in this blog, I realized I never even mentioned cochlear implants (CI). The following information (except the photo) was taken from the NIDCD website:

What is a cochlear implant?

A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin. An implant has the following parts:

* A microphone, which picks up sound from the environment.
* A speech processor, which selects and arranges sounds picked up by the microphone.
* A transmitter and receiver/stimulator, which receive signals from the speech processor and convert them into electric impulses.
* An electrode array, which is a group of electrodes that collects the impulses from the stimulator and sends them to different regions of the auditory nerve.

An implant does not restore normal hearing. Instead, it can give a deaf person a useful representation of sounds in the environment and help him or her to understand speech.

How does a cochlear implant work?

A cochlear implant is very different from a hearing aid. Hearing aids amplify sounds so they may be detected by damaged ears. Cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Signals generated by the implant are sent by way of the auditory nerve to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sound. Hearing through a cochlear implant is different from normal hearing and takes time to learn or relearn. However, it allows many people to recognize warning signals, understand other sounds in the environment, and enjoy a conversation in person or by telephone.

I think the reason this subject never came up yet in my blog is because it is an extremely "hot" topic in the Deaf community which I have learned to avoid with grace. The reason for this is that many people in the Deaf community are extremely proud to be Deaf. They would never even consider changing the fact that they are Deaf. Some of these people believe getting a cochlear implant is a way of disrespecting their deafness. On the other hand, there are some who feel if they were a candidate for getting the implant, they would jump on the idea. The whole idea of the cochlear implant has stirred many mixed feelings and has even destroyed close family relationships. If you are truly interested in this subject, I would recommend an entertaining yet informative movie called Sound and Fury. This movie accurately demonstrates the quarrels some families have gone through because of cochlear implants.

What VRS can look like for Deaf consumers

This video is good to give an idea of what VRS looks like. Yes, I realize it is quite sarcastic and in the end is an advertisement but I felt it was good for others to see just what Deaf people have to deal with at times. This is yet another example of a presentation of something that does, unfortunately, happen in real life - of course, not quite this dramatic. But one must realize in order for this commercial to make sense, it means it has some truth to the matter.



Kind of sad, don't you think?

Of course, had I been the interpreter in this situation a problem like this wouldn't exist.

I challenge you to consider this video the next time you go to pick up your phone to make a call. Though technology has brought on many wonderful and exciting new inventions to the Deaf community, it also brings with it many new problems. And it is still not as simple as picking up the phone, dialing a number, and hearing the person pick up on the other line.

Funny but True

Here is a Deaf comedian describing exactly what seems to be happening to Deaf culture. (Don't worry, it is interpreted.) It is quite similar to what appears to be happening to hearing cultures also.

When you think about the subject of comedy itself, you must realize that comedy tends to be funny because it is usually some critique of the world itself. If I were to analyze what segments of a comedy show really get me laughing, I would have to admit that most of the time it's the segments which are true to life in some way. Stemming from this idea, I find it interesting that Deaf comedians are now adding the "downside" of technology. I realize this comedian is looking for some laughs but I also realize it wouldn't be quite as funny if there weren't some sort of truth to what he's saying. (Of course, I remember being that ASL student at a Deaf event so that also helps me relate.)

The CODA Brothers

I can't continue with the subject of VLOGS without at least the mention of the CODA Brothers. First of all, the acronym CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults which is basically what the acronym states. It is an organization consisting of children whose parents are deaf.

These particular brothers produce many humorous VLOGS for both hearing and Deaf communities and are well known in the Deaf community VLOG world. They voice over their VLOG so as to "interpret" what they are signing - even though their voice-over is never exactly what they are signing.

The following is one video I find particularly funny because they poke fun at interpreters.

The Idea/Invention of Video Phones

I have already discussed some of the concepts of the video phone but recently I came across this Youtube video which I felt was very fitting. See what you think...

Video Phones and Their Effects on Culture Norms

I came upon this wonderful insight given by a well-known Minnesota Deaf woman, Cara Barnett, about technology and how it has affected Deaf culture.

Now I want to talk a little about the relationship between Deaf culture and technology. In terms of communication, Deaf people have progressed from nothing like TTYs through TTYs to e-mails and pagers. Now videophones have come on the scene. These changes have really had a strong impact on Deaf culture and the Deaf community.

Prior to TTYs, Deaf people had to rely on their hearing neighbors to make phone calls which both required assertiveness and led to a sense of dependence. With the invention of TTYs, Deaf people were able to call for their own appointments, though when talking with friends, it was
preferred to talk face to face in ASL, rather than on the TTY.

Pagers were the next development that really allowed Deaf people to make contact in emergency situations, or set up times for meetings, just like hearing people do with their cell phones. This was a great development.

A few years ago, the video phone came to the Deaf community. At first, people weren’t sure about it. But once they experienced using it,they loved it. Using the Video Relay Service, Deaf people were able to make calls using ASL and working through an interpreter instead of having to struggle with figuring out how to convey things in written English. It was much easier to let the interpreters do the work of going between languages.

But you don’t only have to use a videophone to call the Video Relay Service. You can also call Deaf friends directly. I come from a Deaf family, and my parents and I have an agreed-upon time to talk to each other on the videophone. On Sundays at 11 am, we call, and the calls go for an hour or even an hour and a half. My mom makes a list of things she wants to tell me, which can be a lot to take in. Sometimes I have a list of things, too, but generally, it’s my mom who does that.

Because of this, I noticed an interesting change at Christmas time. In years past, when Deaf families got together at Christmas, they would talk into the night. This year, however, when I got together with my family, I ran out of things to say after just a short time. My mom kept urging me to tell her more, but I realized that with the videophone, I had given her the news every week, so that I didn’t have as much to say at Christmas this year. I shared that insight with her how having the videophone changed our Christmas interaction.

It makes me wonder what will happen to Deaf culture. In the past, culturally Deaf people have always stayed late talking at the Deaf club or at Deaf parties. With the advent of the videophone, I wonder if that will now change and people won’t feel like they need to catch up as much because they already know what is happening with people from videophone conversations. It’s too early to tell at this point, but it will be very interesting to see what the impact of the videophone will be on Deaf culture in the future.

VLOGS

Another great way for a Deaf person to get their "voice heard" is through VLOGs. These are similar to BLOGs but have a video of the person using signed language instead of text. Sometimes you will see a transcript or interpretation of what the signer is saying but many times it is up to the viewer to understand.

Many Deaf (capitalization on purpose) people use these for the same reason Hearing (again, capitalization on purpose) people use BLOGs. It is a way to communicate to a mass amount of people about a subject you feel deserves attention. And sometimes it is just a nice way to keep updated on other people's lives and happenings.

Thanks to WebCams and other great devices which allow you to upload videos on the internet, VLOGs are easily posted and watched by millions of both Hearing and Deaf people. There are many VLOGs on http://www.youtube.com/ (try search: deaf) as well as http://www.deafread.com/. Of course, you can always find VLOGs at other locations but I thought I would give you a couple to start with.

Check some out... see what you think! Maybe you will have to find one that is translated below the video but at least you can say you experienced it. :) The following is a VLOG which has the options of Closed Captions if you like.

Did you know??

Did you know that it was just 6 short years ago when Minnesota got the first VRS (Video Relay Service) set up? They were so much faster than TTYs! Users were amazed!

In the beginning...

For those of you who are unaware... a TTY is a telecommunications device used by the Deaf. The following is a borrowed, quick "run-down" of what a TTY is/was:

TTYs are largely being replaced by email, text pagers, and other modern forms of communication, but the basic TTY is still around.

A deaf scientist, Robert Weitbrecht, is credited with the development of the TTY in the 1960s. The earliest TTYs were huge hunks of metal with printer paper coming out of them. These early TTYs are now considered antique. However, there are still some individuals that have models and the Smithsonian houses a selection of models for a sampling of equipment through the years. The cost was also a barrier that prevented the TTY from gaining widespread use and acceptance more quickly.

Today, TTYs are available in a variety of models, from the most basic and inexpensive to highly sophisticated, computer-like models and compact, pocket-sized TTYs. We also see TTYs designed to be used with wireless phones.

With today's technology, many are switching to VPs (Video Phones) because of the convenience and ability to use their natural language.

http://www.sorensonvrs.com/cw/ (a link to view a sample of VRS - Video Relay Service - and how to use one type of VP)