Deaf with a small "d"
Online posting: Mar. 17, 1998
Re: Cochlear implants: the head-on collision between medical technology and the right to be deaf, by Lynne Swanson CMAJ 1997;157(7):929-32 [full text / en bref]
In this article the author makes the mistake of assuming that the deaf community is homogeneous and that those who sign — the "culturally Deaf" — represent the majority of that community. They do not.
Swanson is correct that some people within the signing "Deaf" culture oppose the cochlear implant. However, "oral deaf" people like me far outnumber the capital-D Deaf who use sign language. It is ironic that Swanson is guilty of the same kind of polarization and sensationalism ("the deaf" v. "the hearing") that she and Dr. Hartley Bressler deplore.
In the article, Bressler is quoted as saying that a book on the cochlear implant written by a deaf person would be diametrically opposed to one written by a hearing person. Interestingly, I have written such a book, which is to be published by Trifolium Books next fall. It describes my experience growing up deaf, obtaining a cochlear implant and hearing with it; the book also shows the subtle shadings of deafness and the complexity of the issues surrounding cochlear implantation.
No one working in this field today would ever offer the hope that a cochlear implant will turn a deaf person into a hearing person, but for the vast majority of those who obtain a cochlear implant the benefits will be gratifying.
Beverly Biderman
Toronto, Ont.
bev.biderman@utoronto.ca
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