Oh come on. Don't let a few moronic posts around here chase you off. Just let it be an unfortunate but necessary preparation for what you're going to face from some people as Lilly grows up.
Where I work, all students are accepted by one another -- CI, oral, signing, whatever. If they have a CI and they sign, so much the better. It's not so black and white everywhere, for everyone.
This place can get under your skin, but there's a world of difference between a person hiding behind a screen name comfortably and anonymously insulting you with no consequences, and a person seeing your beautiful daughter and her loving father face to face -- especially as Lilly grows up with fluency in both English and ASL.
Well said. As a Deaf person, I am aware that there are people who are "strongly opposed" to cochlear implants, oralism, etc. Believe me, I know a lot about it.
The problem with some of these people is due to insecurity issues, but some of them do have valid concerns about the ethics of the technology and how it's being pushed onto some families. What Lilly's Dad is doing is a great thing by exposing her to ASL and other deaf people. If they aren't exposed to other deaf people, they will grow up feeling like they're missing something.
It's nice to have friends who share something in common which is deafness. It gives each other a better understanding of what it's like.
I just wish Lilly's Dad wouldn't give up this fast, my parents has done much, much more than you can possibly imagine. No offense, but they do understand what you mean. Their experiences turned out to be more positive than negative if they know the right people. They are hearing and they started learning sign language for me when I was a child and exposed me to the deaf community and the culture.
I couldn't had asked for better parents.