Making a statement regarding a personal opinion regarding the choice of implantation is not, and I repeat, not a rejection of the individual who has made a choice different from the one we ourselves would make. That is my whole point. We have got to stop seeing difference of opinion as rejection of the individual. It is not one and the same.
I personally can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Buffalo would never reject a child or an adult with a CI that came to the deaf community looking for friendship, support, and knowledge. She has her opinion regarding the surgical procedure and the devise. She is quite capable of separating that from the individual. The CI does not determine who the individual is as a person, nor does it determine acceptance or rejection. Faire Jour has assumed that she is being rejected simply because a deaf individual has make a statement regarding her personal opinion on CI. That is definately not the case. She is simply stating her opinion of the technology. As long as we continue to bring the discussion back to who would decide to implant and who wouldn't, we are missing the bigger picture. If one sees rejection in every differing opinion, one will find rejection. It is a self fulfilling prophecy.
