Change the future for a deaf child

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Nika said:
I don't think that Hannah's parents are completely audist as much as the article is. The article frames as if it is a largely desperate situation and Hannah just won't be able to make it as a single CI person. I can understand having two CI's helps with locating sound and also lets you gather more auditory information, but she's not going to lack a with only unilateral CI instead of bilateral.
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Or without any CI at all. :cool2:
 
Nika said:
I don't think that Hannah's parents are completely audist as much as the article is. The article frames as if it is a largely desperate situation and Hannah just won't be able to make it as a single CI person. I can understand having two CI's helps with locating sound and also lets you gather more auditory information, but she's not going to lack a with only unilateral CI instead of bilateral.
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<good post>
 
faire_jour said:
It didn't say that Deaf people are useless without implants, it said that this girl will be able to function better with 2 implants. Which is true! If she is an oral language user she will hear much more normally (not normal) with two ears than with one.Who says the parents are uneducated about Deafness? Where does it say that the child doesn't use ASL? Just because they did something different than you did does NOT make it wrong. Geez
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That is not a guarantee.
 
Nika said:
I don't think that Hannah's parents are completely audist as much as the article is. The article frames as if it is a largely desperate situation and Hannah just won't be able to make it as a single CI person. I can understand having two CI's helps with locating sound and also lets you gather more auditory information, but she's not going to lack a with only unilateral CI instead of bilateral.
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Perhaps her parents aren't, but the author of this plea most certainly is. And, one could assume that her parents approved it.
 
Although I am pretty sure they exaggerated things to manipulate emotions, they shouldn't have said that she needed 2 CIs to be "a fully functional adult." That whole paragraph is freaking retarded. Are we put together in pieces?

I get the feeling that this is more of the journalists' fault than the actual parents' themselves. I mean, read the subtext, and you'll see that the parents are trying to do as much as they can for their child and noticed any slowing down of her progression and thus taking action (even though you may not agree with the action they took). They are willing to fight insurance and so on. The person who is writing the article is trying to make an extreme story out of it. You can even tell by the way it's written.

"The window of opportunity is starting to close."
"they want her to have the same chance for successful adulthood."
"That denial hurts vulnerable children, their families, friends and society in general."
"to every other child who cannot hear through both ears."

I find this quote particularly HILARIOUS:
"research that proves bilateral cochlear implants are as medically necessary as hip replacements, artificial heart valves, and pace makers."

Thank GOD I got the implant a month ago, who knows how much longer I had to live!!!
 
jillio said:
Exactly. The implication is that she will never be fully functioning without a bilateral. How insulting! And I agree. It is an extremely audist statement.
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The parents r just as responsible for spreading the misconception as the reporter is because they r using the media to get a 2nd implant for their child and to put audists statements like that can hurt a lot of deaf people who have worked hard to overcome the obstacles put on them by hearing people! Nobody can convince me otherwise...I am disgusted by this!
 
Daredevel7 said:
Although I am pretty sure they exaggerated things to manipulate emotions, they shouldn't have said that she needed 2 CIs to be "a fully functional adult." That whole paragraph is freaking retarded. Are we put together in pieces?

I get the feeling that this is more of the journalists' fault than the actual parents' themselves. I mean, read the subtext, and you'll see that the parents are trying to do as much as they can for their child and noticed any slowing down of her progression and thus taking action (even though you may not agree with the action they took). They are willing to fight insurance and so on. The person who is writing the article is trying to make an extreme story out of it. You can even tell by the way it's written.

"The window of opportunity is starting to close."
"they want her to have the same chance for successful adulthood."
"That denial hurts vulnerable children, their families, friends and society in general."
"to every other child who cannot hear through both ears."

I find this quote particularly HILARIOUS:
"research that proves bilateral cochlear implants are as medically necessary as hip replacements, artificial heart valves, and pace makers."

Thank GOD I got the implant a month ago, who knows how much longer I had to live!!!
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OMG, yes! You were living on borrowed time, my friend. You could have suffered a fatal "ear attack" at any time!:giggle:
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Change the future for a deaf child | thespectrum.com | The Spectrum

Today, I want to talk about Hannah, a bright, sociable 7 year old who is the beloved youngest of my friends LeAnn and Rob Wankier's seven children.

My reasons for dedicating my "platform" to Hannah are similar to reasons why Ed Yeates wrote "Insurance Company Won't Cover Girl's Bilateral Cochlear Implant" which was broadcast on Dec. 10 at 10:10 p.m. by KSL-TV.

Hannah, adopted from China as an infant and profoundly deaf, received a cochlear implant in July 2006. Her implant coincided with her starting school and allowed her to learn to read and begin vital socialization. However, her progress is limited because her right-sided implant only goes to her left brain where reasoning takes place. She can't receive information through her left ear which would feed the right hemisphere of her brain where creative, social events are processed.

She desperately needs another implant to become a fully functional adult. With bilateral implants, Hannah's hearing will become much more normal, because she will receive input from two ears, rather than one. Her young brain will process information, switching between hemispheres according to whether she's listening to her teacher explain fractions or giggling with a friend about an upcoming play date.

Unfortunately Hannah lives in Utah where bilateral implants aren't covered by insurance, and her parents are small business owners who have paid tens of thousands in premiums which they - rightly, in my opinion - think should pay the approximately $45,000 tab. If Hannah lived in any other state, she'd, most likely, have already had both implants and be able to hear through both ears.

SelectHealth, the insurance carrier for the Wankiers, is the largest health insurance company in the state, and has arbitrarily proclaimed that bilateral cochlear implants are "experimental" and, thus, have denied Hannah - and every other deaf child in Utah - this life-enhancing surgery.

Rob and LeAnn have been trying to get the second implant for Hannah since they realized how effective the first implant was. They want Hannah to have skills their older six children share, and they want her to have the same chance for successful adulthood.

However, Hannah's brain is growing and changing; its ability to adapt and utilize the cochlear technology is quickly diminishing as she ages. The window of opportunity is starting to close.

When the insurance company denied coverage, they said, "We do intend in the coming months to do a thorough re-assessment of the exclusion of bilateral cochlear implants, and will utilize the extensive information that you provided as part of that review."

Sure, this ponderous, huge company will "review" and "re-assess" for months and years, while Hannah grows up. Those decision makers have ignored the preponderance of research that proves bilateral cochlear implants are as medically necessary as hip replacements, artificial heart valves, and pace makers. Implants allow deaf people to hear and function a world of sound.

That denial hurts vulnerable children, their families, friends and society in general.

You can help by using your voice. Together, we can right this wrong. If you edit a company newsletter, work for a publication, have a blog or Web site, teach a class, or have any sort of audience, add your voice to mine. Additionally, you can flood SelectHealth with letters:

SelectHealth

4646 W. Lake Park Boulevard

P. O. Box 30192

Salt Lake City, UT 84130

You can also send e-mails to their public relations department: Jason Burgess at Jason.burgess@selecthealth.org and Greg Reid at greg.reid@selecthealth.org. You can urge the Utah State Insurance Commission to mandate bilateral cochlear implants, and you can lobby the state legislature as the 2009 session gets under way.

Recruit your friends and acquaintances to join this simple, important crusade, a crusade that will make a huge difference to Hannah and to every other child who cannot hear through both ears.
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First of all to those that have cochlears no offense, but i think the kid should be old enough to decide for themselves, and you can be a fully functional adult without one.

You can be a fully functional adult with ASL, BSL, PSE, SEE... there are so many ways... it is dumb to think she absolutely has to have another one...
 
shel90 said:
The parents r just as responsible for spreading the misconception as the reporter is because they r using the media to get a 2nd implant for their child and to put audists statements like that can hurt a lot of deaf people who have worked hard to overcome the obstacles put on them by hearing people! Nobody can convince me otherwise...I am disgusted by this!
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They want to do what is best for their child. They are doing what it takes. If that means they have to offend a few people, than I'm sure they lose no sleep over it. They are doing everything they can to get what their child needs.
 
faire_jour said:
Can you show me any research that shows that there is any percentage of children who receive a bilateral implant and their fuctionung hearing decreases?
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I can show you plenty of research that shows that there is no significant increase for many children, especially when it comes to spoken language and social issues. And yes, there are also a number whose functional hearing decreases when all residual hearing is lost, and the implant is unsuccessful. In fact, I can point you to a member of this forum's child who suffered those consequences.
 
faire_jour said:
They want to do what is best for their child. They are doing what it takes. If that means they have to offend a few people, than I'm sure they lose no sleep over it. They are doing everything they can to get what their child needs.
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What their child needs, or what they want for their child?
 
faire_jour said:
They want to do what is best for their child. They are doing what it takes. If that means they have to offend a few people, than I'm sure they lose no sleep over it. They are doing everything they can to get what their child needs.
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Maybe ASL is best, and they dont know it. some parents need to get a life...
 
faire_jour said:
They are doing everything they can to get what their child needs.
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What they think their child needs. Sure, it might help her, but does she need it? No. Would it be nice? Maybe (depends how successful it is). Is it worth asking strangers to pour their money into? Don't know. You tell me.
 
jillio said:
I can show you plenty of research that shows that there is no significant increase for many children, especially when it comes to spoken language and social issues. And yes, there are also a number whose functional hearing decreases when all residual hearing is lost, and the implant is unsuccessful. In fact, I can point you to a member of this forum's child who suffered those consequences.
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I would love to see the reserch that shows the bolded. That there are a number of children who hear worse with a bilateral implant than they did with a unilateral. Where can I find it? I am considering the other side for Miss Kat and I can not find anything that says that.
 
faire_jour said:
They want to do what is best for their child. They are doing what it takes. If that means they have to offend a few people, than I'm sure they lose no sleep over it. They are doing everything they can to get what their child needs.
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I know that they r doing everything to get what their child needs and I am not against it but how they r going about it is what I am against....because they are continuing to spread the misconception that deaf children must conform to the hearing ways to be fully functional which is a complete false stereotype that deaf people have fought against for years. Where's the heart and empapthy?
 
Nika said:
What they think their child needs. Sure, it might help her, but does she need it? No. Would it be nice? Maybe (depends how successful it is). Is it worth asking strangers to pour their money into? Don't know. You tell me.
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Why not? If people are willing to help, good for them.
 
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