Sound and Fury

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dorothy5664

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We watched this very moving documentary last night in class. While watching it, I overheard some of my younger classmates commenting on the irresponsibility of the deaf parents, Peter and Anita. Unfortunately or possibly fortunately, we didn't have time for any class discussion following watching it as I obviously saw things differently. I don't know if this is because I am a parent and most of my classmates aren't that I am more able to relate to Peter and Anita or if it is due to my acceptance of the deaf culture and its opinions and views.

I am attaching the part of my opinion paper that I am writing and would appreciate any comments from those who have seen the documentary.

Thanks!:ty:
 
I wrote a blog post about it

Here is what I thought of the movie:

Our family has been watching the movie "Sound and Fury" this week. I also watched the follow up, but we couldn't get a hold of it to show the rest of the family.

I liked the movie, but I thought it showed the two most extreme viewpoints. I felt like no one was in the middle ground. I hated that they kept throwing around the word "abuse" and "not accepting". And the hearing grandmother just drove me crazy. She was pushing so hard, and just attacking all the time. I felt like she really believed that a child can not succeed with out a CI. I don't believe that. I believe that a CI gives a child more opportunities, but it is not necessary.

My mother was on the other side. She thought the grandmother had really good points. She thought that the parents were not thinking about their children's future. She thought that they were not implanting out of fear, and that they moved to Maryland to get away from the whole issue. I thought that the school was wonderful, it reminded me of Miss Kat's school. My mother and I have always argued about the idea of "birth defect" versus "culture". I explained that I hate the idea of people believing that a CI is a cure, and so many people in the movie viewed it that way, especially the hearing parents.

I also didn't like that the parents said that their child is now hearing, that simply wasn't true. I argued with my mother about that. She said that not everyone views it the same way as we do. She said that they found out their child had a handicap and corrected it. She compared it to a club foot. She said they found it, had surgery to correct it, and then gave their child therapy to help them learn to walk appropriately. But, I pointed out that the child doesn't continue to have to wear the device, and that when they take it off they don't still have the "issue". I compared it to an amputee. You can give your child prosthetics, but then you don't tell them "You are able-bodied now, just like everyone else." It just isn't true.

I also had a epiphany about the whole "ASL is a crutch for deaf children". I think that if my child had a limp, I would give them a crutch! I wouldn't force them to hobble around in pain. Maybe that makes me a bad mother...oh well!
 
I would love to see the follow-up, do you know the name of it?
I felt both grandmothers were a little over the top in their opinions, one with abuse accusations and the other with acceptance or lack thereof accusations.
I felt sorry for the parents as they were getting so much pressure from both sides, and were actually being treated, I felt, by the hearing grandparents as if they were lesser than average intelligence and incapable of making good sound decisions for their child. I actually felt the parents were looking at it in a more realistic way as they didn't feel that their daughter was old enough to have a say in the decision. Some of the little girl's thoughts on being deaf/hearing were rather intuitive for her age. Perhaps she is a precocious child or those ideas were put there by someone else. Seriously, I can't think of too many 4 year olds who are concerned with whether or not they can hear a smoke alarm, horns, blowing, etc. As far as ASL being crutch, what about children who move here from other countries, bringing with them their own language of French, Spanish, etc. Should those native languages be considered crutches?

To get a better perspective on your and your mother's opinions, are either of you deaf or HOH?

Thanks!
 
It's called, 6 years later, I believe.

I am the hearing parent of a Deaf 5 year old who's primary language is ASL, and who hears with a cochlear implant.

Here's an article about the follow and what happened after the first movie ended (though I have a sneaking suspicion that one of our posters here has a LOT more information about this story than she choses to let one....)

Hands & Voices :: ‘Sound and Fury' Update
 
Thank you for sharing the article with me. I am so happy that the family was able to heal the rift that the documentary forged between them. Do you have much involvement in the deaf community and if so, how is the overall acceptance of your son's CI's?

BTW, I hope you don't mind all of the questions.
 
dorothy5664 said:
Thank you for sharing the article with me. I am so happy that the family was able to heal the rift that the documentary forged between them. Do you have much involvement in the deaf community and if so, how is the overall acceptance of your (daughter) CI's?

BTW, I hope you don't mind all of the questions.
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I don't mind at all.

We are very active in the Deaf community. My daughter attends a bi-bi school for the Deaf (it is voice off ASL) and we attend a Deaf church, and Deaf community activities whenever possible. In our area the community often revolves around the school so a school activity is often just a community activity too.

We have not had a single bad thing said to us about her CI in real life. Everyone has been very accepting. I think that the tide has changed about the implant. I know many Deaf adults with them, and they are very accepted in our community.
 
I think a lot of the books/movies/documentaries that address the beliefs of the Deaf Culture that I've read or seen are outdated. What does a bi-bi school mean?
 
dorothy5664 said:
I think a lot of the books/movies/documentaries that address the beliefs of the Deaf Culture that I've read or seen are outdated. What does a bi-bi school mean?
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Bi-Bi Options

Goal:
The traditional approach to bilingual-bicultural education is founded on the premise that “Auditory/Oral and Total Communication approaches do not meet the linguistic and cultural needs of deaf children; [that] natural sign language, such as American Sign Language (ASL) is the “biologically preferred” mode of communication for deaf individuals and [that] deaf children can acquire verbal language in the written form through the language base of natural sign language.”107 Hence ASL is taught to the child first and then English is taught as a second language.

Benefits:
The benefits of such a program are that deaf children receive a language that is highly accessible to them. In the Bi-Bi approach, teachers that are native in the language model ASL for the child. In addition, parents who are hearing may engage a deaf adult who will model ASL in the home environment until the parents’ language skills are adequate. If the child attends a residential school, he also has the opportunity to learn from his peers. Since everyone signs ASL, the feeling of isolation often found among signing children placed in the mainstream is ameliorated. Since ASL is strongly connected with Deaf Culture, children in Bi-Bi programs have the opportunity to learn about, and participate in, Deaf Culture. This method is particularly useful for deaf children of parents fluent in ASL since the parents already know the target language and can model it correctly.

Disadvantages:
There are several disadvantages to this approach. The first is availability. Outside of the residential schools for the deaf, the Bi-Bi approach is not common. “There may be an insufficient number of deaf teachers and ‘role models’ to serve the population in question.”108 Signing is a difficult skill for hearing parents to master and they may resent having a stranger in their home, should they decide to engage a language model for their child. Bi-Bi does not spend time working on audition or speech. In fact, “it is felt to be morally wrong to impose on deaf children a language they cannot acquire, this, spoken language.”109 This policy can limit participation in hearing culture.
 
I've never seen the film, but I do think that there's no need to force CI on a child.

The only handicap that child has is not being able to hear. When that child grows up, he/she can still do everything else.

Using CI has nothing to do with English and grammar capabilities. It's how you are raised.

If you're going to be raised on only ASL, then you will struggle with English and grammar.
 
VamPyroX said:
I've never seen the film, but I do think that there's no need to force CI on a child.

The only handicap that child has is not being able to hear. When that child grows up, he/she can still do everything else.

Using CI has nothing to do with English and grammar capabilities. It's how you are raised.

If you're going to be raised on only ASL, then you will struggle with English and grammar.
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:applause:
 
I hate watching documentaries on children and CI's and how ignorant parents are.. I forgot which documentary it was.. but the child was deaf and his mom hearing and his dad.. wanted to try learning asl and not getting a cochlear..but the mom was against learning BECAUSE IT WAS TOO HARD FOR HER! i wanted to slap her.. just like i wanna slap anyone who's that ignorant :P I watched this movie you talk about in high school i think..mm yeap really no need for a CI i agree with Vamp
 
VamPyroX said:
I've never seen the film, but I do think that there's no need to force CI on a child.

The only handicap that child has is not being able to hear. When that child grows up, he/she can still do everything else.

Using CI has nothing to do with English and grammar capabilities. It's how you are raised.

If you're going to be raised on only ASL, then you will struggle with English and grammar.
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You are not "forcing a CI" on a child. You are giving them options. You are giving them the option to learn to hear and speak. Without the CI you are closing that door for them. They don't have to take that road, you ar giving them choices.
 
faire_jour said:
You are not "forcing a CI" on a child. You are giving them options. You are giving them the option to learn to hear and speak. Without the CI you are closing that door for them. They don't have to take that road, you ar giving them choices.
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That is certainly a valid perspective; however the flip side is that the child may be limited in their ability to choose other (perhaps better?) options once they are of age to consent, because of the potential damage caused when a CI is implanted. It is possible that today's CI technology may be obsolete in 5 or 10 years, potentially "closing the door" for future possibilities.

As a late-deafened adult, I agonize over this decision for myself. I have chosen to accept my "Deafhood" and learn sign language, knowing that some situations would be easier if I could "hear". There's clearly no right or wrong answer, one simply has to decide for oneself or one's children based on best available knowledge and what is in one's heart.
 
faire_jour said:
You are not "forcing a CI" on a child. You are giving them options. You are giving them the option to learn to hear and speak. Without the CI you are closing that door for them. They don't have to take that road, you ar giving them choices.
Click to expand...

The problem is that more audist parents, the ones who are so eager to force/persuade/coerce their children into getting the CI, aren't going to be understanding if their child says "Hearing with a CI is still too hard, I want to sign" since to them it looks like they're willingly letting themselves be disabled. I'd rather be forced to sign and use rudimentary lip-reading and speech by some arbitrary force than to have my parents breathing down my neck for 18 years forcing me to speak and listen with a primitive implant and shoving audism down my throat.
 
Mockingbird said:
The problem is that more audist parents, the ones who are so eager to force/persuade/coerce their children into getting the CI, aren't going to be understanding if their child says "Hearing with a CI is still too hard, I want to sign" since to them it looks like they're willingly letting themselves be disabled. I'd rather be forced to sign and use rudimentary lip-reading and speech by some arbitrary force than to have my parents breathing down my neck for 18 years forcing me to speak and listen with a primitive implant and shoving audism down my throat.
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Really? I have never met a parent who says that "I will make my child wear their the CI everyday until they turn 18, even if they beg me to stop". Every parent I talk to says that if the child wants to learn to sign, they will be fine.

Oh, and I am one of those parents who "forced" my child to get a CI.
 
VamPyroX said:
I've never seen the film, but I do think that there's no need to force CI on a child.

The only handicap that child has is not being able to hear. When that child grows up, he/she can still do everything else.

Using CI has nothing to do with English and grammar capabilities. It's how you are raised.

If you're going to be raised on only ASL, then you will struggle with English and grammar.[/QUOTE]

Who is raised in an only ASL environment? Never met a person who was raised that way.
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faire_jour said:
You are not "forcing a CI" on a child. You are giving them options. You are giving them the option to learn to hear and speak. Without the CI you are closing that door for them. They don't have to take that road, you ar giving them choices.
Click to expand...


Oh geez! Nice choice of words...as if all is lost if a child doesnt get a CI!!! Damn!
 
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