If ASL has multiple meaning to"concepts/things et al" what is the MULTIPLE meaning to a cochlear Implant? Harlan Lane"s "assumption" A Cochlear Implant is a instrument of genocide to the deaf community. Duly noted in the book the Journey into the DEAF WORLD.Lane, et al. I am also aware that the "official" position of the "US DEAF ASSOCIATION" ( not sure the exact title) HAS CHANGED. All of this noted in Michael Chorost's book Rebuilt
Being bilateral deaf-I obviously disagree with this "strange categorization".
IS LANE'S drivel STILL ASCRIBED TO BY DEAF MILITANTS?
Implanted A B Harmony activated Aug/07
I have not yet read Harlan Lane's book. So I am going to go straight off what you have posted here.
First off Bottesini said it perfectly clear -- Cochlear Implants in and of themselves have no meaning -- They are just pieces of technology.
As I said in my last post in this thread. People ascribe meanings to things including Cochlear Implants.
One of the reasons people ascribe meanings to things is because they have goals. How well something fulfills or obstructs those goals largely determines the meanings ascribed to the thing. In this case the thing is a piece of technology.
As mentioned in that prior post a car means a mode of transportation to and from work to a working person trying to support a family. To a teenager it means freedom of movement. To a military person it means the ability to move, and to supply, troops.
The audist community sees the Cochlear Implant as bringing them one step closer to their goal of "curing" deafness and thereby making deaf people "whole" and "normal". They have no respect for, nor concern for, the Deaf Community, the signing community, neither do they place any value on the benefits the Deaf Community has to offer the hearing community. They see no value in signed languages. If the audists had their way every deaf person would be forced to wear a Cochlear Implant and signing would not be allowed. They want D/deaf people to become hearing people. To an audist the Cochlear Implant means they will be able to save Deaf people from a second class life.
If you see nothing wrong with the above paragraph then you are an audist.
One thing the audist will never admit to is that the only thing that relegates D/deaf people to second class status is the audist insistence on focusing on the person's inability to hear rather than focusing on the skills, abilities, and achievements, of the Deaf person.
The Deaf Community, and those who understand, value, and support the Deaf Community, believe that it has much of value to offer to the world and society as a whole. They believe the social values exemplified by the Deaf Community are important and should not be lost. They believe that signed languages are beautiful and should never be extinguished.
They realize that when D/deaf people become hearing people everything they value and love about the Deaf Communities and the signed languages used by them will disappear forever. Valuable, important ways of life will be gone forever. Every thing they stood for, every thing they believed in -- Including equality and respect for differences -- Will be gone. Forever.
Looked at from this viewpoint the simple fact is
yes! The Cochlear Implant is an instrument of genocide to the Deaf Community.
If you can understand the validity of this viewpoint then we can have a meaningful conversation.
If you cannot it then further discussion is pointless.