PFH if this was the first time I have witnessed this type of bullying before on this forum I would simply ignore it and be gone from this thread. But I have been here over a year, and have seen this type of stuff happen alot with people seeking CI's. I respect you for not getting one. I give your input on alot of thing's some thought because you yourself have gone through many of the same thing's I have and what Zee is about to go through. There is no cut and dry way for a individual to deal with deafness. So to try to coerce someone to seek other avenues to deal with their issue's is plain out wrong. I never ever told anyone on here to go get a CI and that ASL and tactile methods are worthless or anything else for that matter.. What works for some does not work for everyone. I really just wish everyone here would get along, but the sad reality is we wont. I came into this thread to give Z my input on my journey with the CI. And I did the very best I could. IT sucks that a 18 year old young man has lost his hearing and was scared. I lost mine at 23 and seen the way my life changed. I Chose to get the CI for my own personal reason's. Mind you it took me 10 long years to come to that conclusion. I attempted to take ASL classes at the Louisiana school for the deaf. And it was difficult to achieve success when I was placed in a " after school" class setting in a all hearing class. It just does not work for everyone.