I agree!
I find it real strange that they throw crutches at you. They tried to take ASL away because they perceived it as "crutches" and then they slapped hearing aids on us. Now it is CI. They don't even batted their eyes when it was pointed out that hearing aids and CIs are "crutches". Real silly of them!
Much like with the deaf, the Medical establishment likes to try and mitigate what they see as a bad situation. To them, it's better for the child to learn to walk if they have any capability at all to do so. As it is, I'm only partially paralyzed. I have feeling above the knees, but virtually none below the knees. I have NO ability to stand indepenantly, however.
The advice they gave my Mother was to put me in PT so I could build up muscles with the goal of learning to walk with the braces and crutches. We did that. I became ambulatory at around age 4. What they failed to mention or even understand, though, was that walking would be a very short lived thing with me. In total, it lasted about 5 yrs before I simply couldn't do it anymore. In my case, puberty hit and I gained weight. My body weight + other musculo-skeletal issues made it very difficult for me to walk after about the age of 9. By age 11, it was impossible, so I literally gave it up and became fully wheelchair bound. My health may have suffered slightly as a result of our decision, but overall, I was much happier. That was some 30 yrs ago or more.
The prevailing attitude today is much the same. If the child shows any theorectical ability to walk, they put the kid in PT and brace them with the goal of ambulation. What anecdotal evidence has shown, however, is that kids who walk when young end up becoming wheelchair bound by the time the teen years roll around. I theorize it is much for the same reasons I gave up walking. It simply becomes too burdensome on the child. It also isn't very healthy for the child as a whole. My socialization suffered terribly because I was always in PT when everyone else was at recess. I don't blame my parents for this, though. I truly believe they were misguided and were doing the best they could for me. I'm just thankful my Mom listen to me, and, told the Dr's to "stick it" when I couldn't do it anymore.
As for your experience, it is comparable. I don't knock CI's or HAs; just like I don't knock braces and crutches. They're tools that can help the individual when wanted. My gripe is with parents who don't listen to their kid or they have this attitude that the child is happy and will always be happy with the decision to implant. Has it ever occured to anyone that children WANT to please their parents, so they won't complain about the devices they are wearing? It only becomes apparent when the kid gets older and feel they are old enough to speak for themselves that their feelings become known. Then, the parents are like "Oh, my!", if they even give credence to the person then!
I made a comment to someone recently that I would like to see what happens to the children with CIs in 20 yrs and see what they say. Some will undoubtedly like their CI's and be happy, but I wonder if ALL of them will? Somehow, I doubt it. I bet we WILL see a lot of kids angry and upset at their parents because they didn't give them the tools they needed to make their lives easier. Sure, the kids performed well or so it seemed, but are they HAPPY? Ask them in 20 yrs....
Uh oh, you are living up to your name 
