5-Year-Old Wants Cochlear Implant for Christmas

[jillio]

It means the kid will die from deafness so that means I will die from my deafness soon if I dont get implanted.

That is what it sounds like!! Remove that deafness before it kills someone!

 

[jillio]

So, when people are mad that I don't think a 3 year old is old enough to decide to NOT wear a CI, but 5 years old is not old enough to know he wants another?

Comparing apples to oranges. The 3 year old you are talking about is reacting to the decision of someone else.

 

[jillio]

My daughter asked for her first CI at age 5 and her second at 7. She asked why she couldn't hear some things with her hearing aid, we explained that her hearing had gone down, and that her hearing aid didn't work that well anymore. We explained that there was a surgery that could help her hear more, and she said she wanted to do it.

The second one, she was becoming frustrated when we were testing just the hearing aid. She said that she couldn't hear with it. She asked if she could get another CI, so she could hear in both ears.

That says a lot about the messages she is getting.

 

[shel90]

Comparing apples to oranges. The 3 year old you are talking about is reacting to the decision of someone else.

My 5 year old did ask me if he can get hearing aids one time. I thought it was so funny.

 

[shel90]

Anyways...where does a 5 year old get the idea that becoming hearing is better than being deaf? There is no way a 5 year old can come up with that conclusion him/herself.

 

[jillio]

What's wrong with a deaf child with a CI being in the spotlight?

Who said there was anything wrong with it?

But, tell me, where are the signing deaf children? I know many who excel, and they certainly don't make the spotlight? Why?

I suspect it is because they make reality more visable. Everyone, including the medical establishment, loves these stories of how the medical field is making deafness a thing of the past. These stories play into the audist perspective of some hearing is better than no hearing, and it is comfortable for the hearing because they want to believe that.

 

[jillio]

Because they can not afford it and their child can not have a "second ear". One is enough. Right?

You know, I have to agree with that. Why should I, as a tax payer, be responsible for funding an elective surgery? If a kid needs a second cancer operation I have no problem with it. But public funding for a CI is absurd. Put that money into educational reform and educational programs for the hearing parents.

 

[jillio]

My 5 year old did ask me if he can get hearing aids one time. I thought it was so funny.

That is funny! But it just goes to show that kids want to be like their parents. Hearing parents give kids messages that the best way to be is hearing just by being hearing.

 

[jillio]

Anyways...where does a 5 year old get the idea that becoming hearing is better than being deaf? There is no way a 5 year old can come up with that conclusion him/herself.

Bingo!

 

[jazzy]

I don't think taxpayers should pay him for having another one. One is enough.

 

[webexplorer]

I don't think taxpayers should pay him for having another one. One is enough.

Everybody want to have two hearing aids or two CIs. It is so stupid just to have one. How about just one breast or one testicle? Two is better to keep in the balance.

 

[jillio]

Everybody want to have two hearing aids or two CIs. It is so stupid just to have one. How about just one breast or one testicle? Two is better to keep in the balance.

People who want 2 HAs pay for them. They don't get them with public medical funds.

And, not everyone wants 2. I know plenty of people that use just one. And I know plent of people who have just one breast or just one testicle. Medicaid funds don't pay for breast or testicular reconstruction. It is not medically necessary. Well, here is some news: neither is a CI.

 

[deafgal001]

Wirelessly posted

Everybody want to have two hearing aids or two CIs. It is so stupid just to have one. How about just one breast or one testicle? Two is better to keep in the balance.

People who want 2 HAs pay for them. They don't get them with public medical funds.

And, not everyone wants 2. I know plenty of people that use just one. And I know plent of people who have just one breast or just one testicle. Medicaid funds don't pay for breast or testicular reconstruction. It is not medically necessary. Well, here is some news: neither is a CI.

I agree with this. Its not fair to cover two implants when they won't even cover a single hearing aids. Until then....one is enough to get by. Two is a luxury.

 

[deafgal001]

Wirelessly posted

Nothing wrong with children being in spotlight..just that if it is something their parents want, then they should be the one in the spotlight.

 

[Bottesini]

FYI, I think Bottesini actually tries to be fair and moderate in her views. And are not as one sided as some of the AD'ers in here. Just saying.

Thank you.

 

[shel90]

I don't think taxpayers should pay him for having another one. One is enough.

Agreed

 

[Bottesini]

Sure it is! A friend of mine just had her six year old ask for an elf for Christmas!

(BTW: her reasoning was that "an elf can make any toy you want." Kids at that age are still very much dependent upon something called "magical thinking." Including deaf 5 year olds.)

I wouldn't mind an elf for Christmas!

 

[jillio]

I wouldn't mind an elf for Christmas!

Truthfully? Me, either. And I thought the kid's reasoning made perfect sense. Why ask for a toy when you can get an elf that makes any toy you want!

 

[Buffalo]

Anyways...where does a 5 year old get the idea that becoming hearing is better than being deaf? There is no way a 5 year old can come up with that conclusion him/herself.

Well said! And a 5 year old doesn't have a concept of death and that death is permanent... that's why I don't want to see CI in kids.

 

[Beowulf]

Kind of off-topic, but Emily Dickenson said it best in her poem:

Surgeons must be very careful
When they take the Knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the Culprit--Life!