treatment among your friends with c.i.

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Mountairy1979

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After getting the cochlear implant were any of you treated differently by your friends?Were they supportive or opposed to it? Were you treated differently. I know that not all people are for it, but you should make the best decision for yourself. I'm just curious that's all. A friend of mine said she was against it, but she respected my decision to get one.
 
The decision to start the Cochlear Implant process was strictly mine. I knew for almost 15 years-after becoming DEAF in right ear-Feb/92. I became bilateral DEAF on December 20, 2006.

I don't recall anyone suggesting that I remain bilateral DEAF. Very few persons ever heard/seen a Cochlear Implant. Some vaguely heard of Implants but no one actually met a person with one. Not a surprise. They haven't been around for a long time. Plus , of course, the cost involved.

I acknowledge that I participated in Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto classes: Dealing/Coping with your Hearing Loss over a number of years. I was in the "Profound Loss" both ears- category of 90 decibels over 35 years.

I was lucky in that I was successful in the process of getting a Cochlear Implant in less than 4 months. I fit the criteria.
 
This question is not raised for me, who hasn't CI, so excuse if this post is off topic. Just want to say that I've experienced 90 percent of the deaf people I know who got CI exaggerating what they can hear, or even lie they can hear something even if there is no sound there.

I don't know why they do this, maybe they try to convince themselves that the surgery was worth it or are shameful how little it helps? But I don't want to tell them, because I don't want them to think that I don't respect their actions of getting a CI.

Some deaf people with HA's do this as well, especially teenagers, but it's amusing to see grown ups do this.

That said, I don't choose friends based on wether they have CI or not.
 
I don't think my friends will care about when I get a CI..a lot of hem have asked how it will work and what it does and the components. I'm glad to know that most of them are interested or care to know actually ...and now that my mom knows it isn't brain surgery she isn't worried about it either which is nice. My friends are actually very intrigued by he idea that I'll have a magnet in my head lol. I sit think anything will change though other than maybe hopefully understanding speech better and being able to follow a Convo better than I do now. They also know that I'll still be dead and probably need to lip read still :)
 
i think 2012 is more acceptable than years ago. Again, if they use both speaking and ASL then it is all good!

I met my hub before he got a CI. I support him when he wanted it for his reason. He uses both ASL and speaking. He admits that he wishes to know ASL when he was a kid though. He aslo dislikes the idea of having a surgery. He did it once and will not go through it again!
 
The idea of surgery isn't a minor detail but the avenue to gain the possibility of hearing as one is DEAF. Not everyone can so benefit from that actuality- Sunnybrook/Toronto experiences over the last 28 years. Two out of three referred persons are/were "rejected" for one reason or other - Cochlear Implantation.They saw 3000 patients with 950 being implanted. Only 18 didn't "benefit" from the receiving the Implant. Info: recent patients meeting-Sunnybrook. True of other centres?

One can't go backwards and study ASL et al in the past. Most of us have only now and future to live-thoughts from Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto classes: how to deal/cope with your Hearing loss. One must assertive-to deal with the ongoing situation which will never get "better" ( short of head transplants)
 
Frisky Feline said:
i think 2012 is more acceptable than years ago. Again, if they use both speaking and ASL then it is all good!

!
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Hell yeah.............and it's become acceptable surprisingly fast. I'm sure that even in the 70's there were lots of Deaf people who were anti HA. Did you know back when aids were first introduced Deaf people were against them?
 
deafdyke said:
Hell yeah.............and it's become acceptable surprisingly fast. I'm sure that even in the 70's there were lots of Deaf people who were anti HA. Did you know back when aids were first introduced Deaf people were against them?
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i learned about it now yes. But i was a small kid in 1970s and did not know it. I am sure the same deal with HA and now CI. Maybe next is the smallest chip that only needs to snap it without a major surgery that they would against it.

but having both speaking and signing are the best option so they can find in their own comfort to talk to whoever they are with.
 
My friends don't really care since I grew up with them at the school for deaf. Some of them got implanted at 2-3 years old but most wear hearing aids. They all sign of course so it doesn't really matter to us
 
flip said:
This question is not raised for me, who hasn't CI, so excuse if this post is off topic. Just want to say that I've experienced 90 percent of the deaf people I know who got CI exaggerating what they can hear, or even lie they can hear something even if there is no sound there.

I don't know why they do this, maybe they try to convince themselves that the surgery was worth it or are shameful how little it helps? But I don't want to tell them, because I don't want them to think that I don't respect their actions of getting a CI.

Some deaf people with HA's do this as well, especially teenagers, but it's amusing to see grown ups do this.

That said, I don't choose friends based on wether they have CI or not.
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How do you know what they can and can't hear? How do you know they are exaggerating?
 
BleedingPurist said:
How do you know what they can and can't hear? How do you know they are exaggerating?
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I'd imagine because he KNOWS them really well. I have been around people like this as well... I have even been guilty of this I think. Funny how you have just 2 posts on this site and you come out with guns slinging asking questions to people you do not know.:shock:
 
candybrowneyes said:
I'd imagine because he KNOWS them really well. I have been around people like this as well... I have even been guilty of this I think. Funny how you have just 2 posts on this site and you come out with guns slinging asking questions to people you do not know.:shock:
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Asking a valid question is coming out with guns slinging? You are overly defensive. Calm down. It's a natural question to ask someone who can't hear how they know what someone who can hear is able to hear. A specific example would do instead of vague/defensive answers
 
BleedingPurist said:
Asking a valid question is coming out with guns slinging? You are overly defensive. Calm down. It's a natural question to ask someone who can't hear how they know what someone who can hear is able to hear. A specific example would do instead of vague/defensive answers
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yes, because I read your very first post. Trust me when I say you are not the first person to come and push how great CI is on the members here. NO ONE will take that away from you and you have a right to your own opinion. But here is the thing, you asked that question knowing that it may stir the pot, valid, maybe, controversial, probably. You don't know him or his friends, and I can tell you that probably 80% of the people here will tell you the same thing. and FYI, CI still means they are Deaf.
 
BleedingPurist said:
Asking a valid question is coming out with guns slinging? You are overly defensive. Calm down. It's a natural question to ask someone who can't hear how they know what someone who can hear is able to hear. A specific example would do instead of vague/defensive answers
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I don't consider that natural in my world. If I don't know the person I just let it go. I might call them on it if I know them. But I have had CI users tell me how wonderfully they can hear and how I should run out and get another CI (I have one now). I know the truth, the CI doesn't give you the same level as hearing. Even music sucks with my CI... There was a time I was completely deaf and I could tell when there were sounds by the reaction of people around me. The Deaf are better tuned in that you think.
 
candybrowneyes said:
You don't know him or his friends, and I can tell you that probably 80% of the people here will tell you the same thing. and FYI, CI still means they are Deaf.
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No, I don't know him or his friends....hence the reason I asked. It's a valid question that normally follows with a response giving specific examples. So you are telling me it's a question that is off limits unless I have a personal relationship with the poster? It's a discussion forum, let's discuss specific examples.

You are attempting to argue where there is no argument.
 
BleedingPurist said:
No, I don't know him or his friends....hence the reason I asked. It's a valid question that normally follows with a response giving specific examples. So you are telling me it's a question that is off limits unless I have a personal relationship with the poster? It's a discussion forum, let's discuss specific examples.

You are attempting to argue where there is no argument.
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Wrong, I am not attempting to argue. But the point of your question is null, everyone could have answered that question. I am sure he would have answered the same way.
 
Actually, I was also curious (as in, interested, not challenging), how a deaf person can tell if another person hears something or not.

As for the original question, I don't know anybody with a CI, and currently, I only personally know one deaf person. My friend has HA. But I have a good friend with a deaf sister. I assume her sister speaks good ASL, as her written English is that of somebody writing English as a second language.
My friend's deaf sister got a CI a couple years ago. She had no idea that you could hear the sound of writing, or the sound of her own breathing. She likes some things she hears with the CI, but she doesn't like others- she says it's just overwhelming sometimes.
She also said that some of her Deaf friends would no longer have anything to do with her because of the CI. But, of course, I am getting that second hand, and I don't know if there are other things going on.

It does seem slightly less controversial than it once was - at least to me, as an outsider looking in.
 
People who get CIs are deaf too. And there are many CI users in the deaf community. It's not like CI users are completely cut off from all deaf people and that non CI users have no way of accessing information and stories about CI experiences - heck, there are many accounts written right here on AD. So, yes, they share stories and details about what it's like to have a CI. That's how some deaf people who don't have CIs get a sense of what it's like for some who do have CIs. People talk, others listen. That's how information gets passed along. Surprise!
 
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