Tucker Reading
Bioethics
Deaf culture, Cochlear Implants and Elective Disability
•People call themselves ‘deaf’ or ‘Deaf’
•Those who call themselves ‘deaf’ are those who even though they cannot hear,
they have assimilated into hearing society and do not view themselves as a
separate culture
•Those who call themselves ‘Deaf’ are thos e who view and define deaf as a
cultural identity rather than a disability; they insist this culture be nourished and
maintained
•A cochle ar implant is a device that helps people hear and can restore speech to
those who are profoundly or severely deaf
•Cochlear implants are extremely beneficial to those who are deaf in many ways
but the Deaf cultur ists oppose them
•Theory of deaf culture comprised on American Sign Language
•Deaf culturists claim the fact of cultural diversity which should be cherished not
fixed or erased
•Many deaf people would like to be like normal people
•Many Deaf parents want Deaf children to pass on the ir culture to
•Many couples choose to not have deaf children and go to get tested to see if the
child has the deaf gene
•Choosing to have a deaf child violates that childs autonomy and narrows their
scope of choices when they grow up- violates their right to an open future
•Insisting that children be raised in a Deaf community denies them the r ight to
choose whether they want to acc ept or reject the larger hearing world
•Deaf culturists argue that parents should not make the decision to put in cochlear
implants for their children because they should make that decision themselves
when they grow up
•But it has been shown that the efficiency of these implants is greater when they
are implanted earlier in life
•If a deaf child is going to learn how to talk, they must begin to do so at a very
young age
•Even if you teach them to speak and allow them to hear, they can learn sign
language later in life and communicate in the deaf world
•“bi-bi” or “bilingual-bicultural” approach states that deaf children are to learn
ASL only and not spoken or signed English – children should be taught t heir
natural language of ASL
•Some leaders of the deaf culture want to deny children signed and spoken English
•Many deaf leaders had the benefit of early oral education
•Deaf culturists are opposed to technology geared at ‘cur ing’ deafness
•Cochlear implants are frowned upon at Gallaudet
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