Why adults choose CI's for their children

[rockdrummer]

Well, the world isn't perfect, but how can anything change if people don't insist on change. The atitudes of seperatism is perpetrated by BOTH the deaf community and the hearing world. In order for change to take place, an effort has to be made to understand one another. You can't expect anything to change until the effort to understand one another is made.

Just my two cents.

I am all for it.

I agree too. And meanwhile lets not put the kids with CI's in the middle.

 

[Oceanbreeze]

I agree too. And meanwhile lets not put the kids with CI's in the middle.

I support cochlear implantation; even on children. All I am saying is, give the child the best of both worlds. Teach them to sign and how to speak. It doesn't have to be either/or, but it often is.


As for the child with CI being in the middle, again blame both the deaf community and the hearing world. It's not one or the other, it's both doing it. You have deafies who think the child with CI is some kind of freak (we've already seen that in this thread), and you have the hearing community tauting the CI as a cure for deafness and denigrating sign and signers. In this kind of atmosphere, you can't expect it to be any other way. The child with CI is going to be caught in the middle.

 

[shel90]

I support cochlear implantation; even on children. All I am saying is, give the child the best of both worlds. Teach them to sign and how to speak. It doesn't have to be either/or, but it often is.


As for the child with CI being in the middle, again blame both the deaf community and the hearing world. It's not one or the other, it's both doing it. You have deafies who think the child with CI is some kind of freak (we've already seen that in this thread), and you have the hearing community tauting the CI as a cure for deafness and denigrating sign and signers. In this kind of atmosphere, you can't expect it to be any other way. The child with CI is going to be caught in the middle.

I agree...

 

[AlleyCat]

Allycat.. it's perfectly normal to be anxious or nervous. It's surgury and with it come risks with no guarantees. I'm sure you are well aware of this. Imagine if you were making this decision for your child. I wish you the best and may you have success with your CI.

Thank you, RD, and everyone else who is trying to give me support

 

[Byrdie714]

Calling someone a freak is rejection! You said you didn't even want to touch the child.

And a magnet doesn't receive signals from a satellite...a satellite dish does. A magnet is one of those things that sticks to the fridge. If you don't even know how it works, how can you say you have done your research? You are showing that you have ZERO knowledge on the subject. You are speaking from a place of ignorance. How dare you say it is abusive when you have no idea what is even involved?

I never said the child was a "freak". You did.

This is so sad in my opinion. What is terrible is that you can't get pass the CIs or hearing aids or even maybe hair color. How about eye color or race? I don't care big D, little d, or no d, you did something that goes against everything in my heart - you pass judgement on a child, you dismissed a child, and worse you excluded a child from society. Shame on you.

:roll: Yes it's sad that you didn't read the entire post of mine as I also said that I had a deaf daughter with HA's.

Vallee,

These comments were more typical when we were considering the ci for daughter back in 89. Over the years, the number of these people have thankfully dwindled but there still are pockets of ignorance as the poster demonstrates.

I think by and large, most people in the Deaf community are tolerant today of those who are choosing cis for either themselves or for their children or at the very least, they are civil enough to keep their comments to themselves.

I think also as the number of people who have been implanted has exploded over the last two decades it is rare that anyone in either the Deaf or the deaf communities does not personally know someone who has a ci.

I think it will be exciting times over the next 20 years as the ci kids graduate college and become adults in the D/deaf communities.
Rick

We pretty much are tolerant of individuals with CI's. The unfortunate thing is that most hearing people would rather "fix" the hearing problem to make their lives easier instead of looking at the child--holistically.

These are children we are discussing. Babies! I just don't understand these views. I personally feel this type of comments is a reflection on how they feel about others not just CI children. So those types of comments are not acceptable here or anywhere.

No different than hearing parents telling me that I should have a CI on my daughter or on me.

 

[rockdrummer]

I support cochlear implantation; even on children. All I am saying is, give the child the best of both worlds. Teach them to sign and how to speak. It doesn't have to be either/or, but it often is.


As for the child with CI being in the middle, again blame both the deaf community and the hearing world. It's not one or the other, it's both doing it. You have deafies who think the child with CI is some kind of freak (we've already seen that in this thread), and you have the hearing community tauting the CI as a cure for deafness and denigrating sign and signers. In this kind of atmosphere, you can't expect it to be any other way. The child with CI is going to be caught in the middle.

Most parents here that I have encounted that have opted for CI's for their children have said that they use sign language as well. I have seen the ugliness from the previous but I have yet to see on this board or in real life the latter. I am not saying it doesnt happen only that I have not encountered it.

 

[Byrdie714]

Not in the Deaf community I associate with. We have many Deaf people who are CI users.

Maybe someone is taking the words of a few deaf extremists and holding a whole community responsible for it which is wrong. I am a part of the Deaf community and I have never rejected a CI user so pls do not hold me accountable for some extremists. Thank you.

Should we say the hearing community rejects deaf people because a few hearing people are against deaf people? Same logic.

They are and I'm not a Deaf extremist.

Vallee,

This is the second time in recent weeks this poster has made such comments. You are right they are not acceptable anywhere and should not be tolerated by the moderators.
Rick

No different than a CI user or hearing parent that comes on here wanting to slap CI's on all of us. :roll:

Maybe you should pm Byrdie. He is the one that couln't even comfort a crying deaf child because the child had a CI. Maybe Byrdie is one of the extremists you speak of. I hope the mods leave Byrdie's posts in this thread so parents can see that there are actually people that think that way.

Ok I will PM him.

Already told him that it wasnt nice in an old thread that got locked. I would be more than happy to do it again.

Uhhh....could'nt you PM RD? Now by incorporating Shel90 into it--you have put her in the middle of the argument which she does not rightfully belong.

You are a big person--you can PM me instead of asking someone else to do the work.

People. Why parents choose CI's for their children is the topic here... While I appreciate your comments, ... Lets try to stay on track...

I agree. And I have stated my reasoning for not putting a CI on my daughter.

Why is it that he can say that I am a child abuser for implanting my daughter, but if I point out that he is being an ignorant "jerk", my post gets pulled?

Because I didn't single you out by calling you "an abuser". All I said was that I thought it was a form of abuse. In that comment-- I didn't name anyone.

When you name someone and call them a "jerk". Your post would get pulled.

 

[Byrdie714]

Well, the world isn't perfect, but how can anything change if people don't insist on change. The atitudes of seperatism is perpetrated by BOTH the deaf community and the hearing world. In order for change to take place, an effort has to be made to understand one another. You can't expect anything to change until the effort to understand one another is made.

Just my two cents.

And you don't expect to happen it to happen overnight.

 

[Byrdie714]

I agree too. And meanwhile lets not put the kids with CI's in the middle.

Unfortunately it is because that is what the topic is about. So therefore--the child with or without the CI is going to be in the middle of it.

 

[rockdrummer]

I never said the child was a "freak". You did.

Oh that's right... You first said Alians then changed it to Frankenstien. Much better than freak. You can't be serious. We are talking about peoples children here. Show a little respect.

We pretty much are tolerant of individuals with CI's. The unfortunate thing is that most hearing people would rather "fix" the hearing problem to make their lives easier instead of looking at the child--holistically.

Yes there are some that view deafness pathalogically and some that view it culturally. Your assessment of why they try to fix it is completly inaccurate.

No different than hearing parents telling me that I should have a CI on my daughter or on me.

Nobody is telling you that nor do they have the right to. Just as nobody has the right to tell a parent thay shouldn't opt for a CI for their child.

 

[rockdrummer]

Unfortunately it is because that is what the topic is about. So therefore--the child with or without the CI is going to be in the middle of it.

You have a skewed perspective.

 

[Byrdie714]

Oh that's right... You first said Alians then changed it to Frankenstien. Much better than freak. You can't be serious. We are talking about peoples children here. Show a little respect.

When we talk about children--it's usually our children as well. Respect is a two way street and I don't think it's right for parents to put CI's on thier child without thinking of the long term ramifications.

That is the unfortuante thing that is going on with our children. Parents make the decision of putting CI's on them without thinking of the long term consequences.

Yes there are some that view deafness pathalogically and some that view it culturally. Your assessment of why they try to fix it is completly inaccurate

There is more to it than pathologically and culturally. :roll:

 

[rockdrummer]

When we talk about children--it's usually our children as well. Respect is a two way street and I don't think it's right for parents to put CI's on thier child without thinking of the long term ramifications. That is the unfortuante thing that is going on with our children. Parents make the decision of putting CI's on them without thinking of the long term consequences..

So out of one side of your mouth you say that nobody has the right to tell you you what to do for yourself or your child and then out of the other side of you mouth you say It's not right for parents to put CI's on their child. Then you qualify it by saying "without thinking of the long term ramifications. Do you honestly believe that people just willie nillie go into this decision? Haven't you been following the thread? Show me one singlie indication where you believe anyone has decided on a CI for their child without thinking of the long term ramifications. Just one instance.

There is more to it than pathologically and culturally. :roll:

OK.. educate me on other ways that deafness is viewed.

 

[Byrdie714]

So out of one side of your mouth you say that nobody has the right to tell you you what to do for yourself or your child and then out of the other side of you mouth you say It's not right for parents to put CI's on their child. Then you qualify it by saying "without thinking of the long term ramifications. Do you honestly believe that people just willie nillie go into this decision? Haven't you been following the thread? Show me one singlie indication where you believe anyone has decided on a CI for their child without thinking of the long term ramifications. Just one instance.

OK.. educate me on other ways that deafness is viewed.

The risks of CI are more than the benefits of it according to the FDA.

(Guess they should've waited for the 10 year study to be completed before rushing the implant to market in 3 years)

US FDA/CDRH: Cochlear Implants - Benefits and Risks of Cochlear Implants

Secondly I been around this debate since the CI was introduced and the long term effects are now starting to show up with undesirable consequences from the first CI users as some are now reporting tinnitis and greater hearing loss.

 

[Byrdie714]

OK.. educate me on other ways that deafness is viewed.

Have you thought about... holistically?

 

[LadySekhmet]

Byrdie - I have nothing against of your opinions about CI's. I'm sure there's some things that you are advocates of that I am against.
However, it seems that you are looking at more of the negatives over the positives about CI's. Where does it say about issues about long term effects? I have a friend who has hers for 10 years and another for 9 years. Both are not experiencing any issue whatsoever.

The article that you gave us a link to is good. It does need to be updated though.

However, all the surgical risks ALL apply to any type of devices, or surgeries, even pacemakers. So, it's not just CI risks.

Injury to facial nerve - That has to do with the surgeon's ability to avoid it. Nowadays, it is rare to see that to occur. There's a special device that is placed on a patients' head that simulates the facial nerve to tell the doctor to avoid that. They didn't have that many years ago.

Meningitis - This is why it is required to have vaccines. Sadly, it wasn't implemented 10 years ago, but times has changed for the better.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Leakage - the ONLY way for this to occur is if there's a hole in the skull that reaches the brain. The surgeon does NOT go into the brain cavity.

Infection - This can help to be avoided by taking antibiotics on doctors orders.
Blood and fluid collection - it's not a risk...easily cleaned up, and body reabsorbs it
Dizziness or Vertigo - this has to do with the anesthesia not because of the implant. However, there has been some people that says they have vertigo and blame the implant...I do not agree with this. I experienced vertigo from my first surgery because my body reacted to the anesthesia...my second surgery was very different because I requested to have a different type of anesthesia.
Tinnitus - common for deaf people as well, but i found that the majority of CI users had their tinnitus go away when they put their processors on (I occasionally still get tinnitus, only if I have my CI off) .

Taste/numbness - goes away over time. Temporary issue.

So as you can see, none of these has to do with the actual implant themselves.

Now as the bottom part where it says CI risks. See my post below.

 

[LadySekhmet]

May hear sounds differently - OF course it does. To me, everything sounds perfectly natural. I have a lot more clarity and high frequency abilities. I can hear crickets...where I couldn't before. This is where all the training comes in.

May lose residual hearing - for someone who has a CI, may not care too much about having residual hearing (I know there's some CI users that is grateful for that). I still have residual hearing in both ears and they're the same level as pre-CI.

May have unknown or uncertain effects - This is pretty rare. I know someone who had a perfect implant yet it didn't work just right...she got reimplanted and she's happy.

May not hear as well as others - that is all has to do with previous experiences with HA's. For someone who never wore HA's may have a harder time because there's sound all over the place. For someone who was hearing for a long time and suddenly became deaf, will have a much easier time. So, it varies from person to person. That is why we always say, "Low expectations, High hopes." Some of the CI users I know hasn't really reached the full potential of having the CI, so they don't care too much about anything but hearing so they don't bother doing the training and trying out different programming.

May not able to understand language well - again, this kind of falls in the drive and motivation to learn. If you don't learn or have the drive, then you won't be as successful. It also has to do with previous experiences pre-CI.

May have to have it removed - This is true, but again, it's RARE!
Implant failure - again - RARE...and many are willing to get it reimplanted.

May not be able to upgrade - Cochlear's products has been backward compatible for years, and the newest processor can be used on a 10 year old implant, even 15 year old implants. AB's products in the current state will be backward compatible (implant users 10 years ago cannot use the Harmony currently, but it seems that AB is working on it or something). Same goes for Med-El.

May not have some medical examination - The doctors will have to find other ways around getting the tests done. There are people with pacemakers, titianum rods in their bodies, etc...so there *are* other ways. We can still go under MRI, but we just need to have a simple surgery to remove the magnet (NOT the implant). It would be very rare for any of us to have the implant removed because a specific medical examination MUST be used.

Will depend on batteries - nope. Only Cochlear has disposable batteries in BTE (Body worn processors for all three companies take regular AA batteries). How is this any different than having HA's?

May Damage their implant - Protection Protection Protection
May Find them expensive - that's what insurance are for. For someone who loves their CI will find a way, no question about it.
Lifestyle changes - I find it funny if i do set off the alarms. To this day I haven't set off any alarms...shucks. you do not need to "turn off CI" for Airplane rides. People do it anyways because it can wipe the map, but that's not even a big deal. It doesn't ruin the CI.

Static Electricity - all it does it has the potential to ruin the programming. I live in such a dry state and I get static electricity all the time, I have not yet experienced any problems. I think it's just an issue for children and plastic slides...I don't know.

Less ability to hear - this is where all the fancy programming takes place. We get used to the programming that our head needs 'more input'.

May develop irritation - it does happen, but I think if someone used a better magnet (weaker), it won't be irritated.

Can't let external parts get wet - AB and Cochlear is water resistant.
May hear strange sounds - Same thing goes for HA's. It's not CI specific.

I hope you learned some things and facts. I'm not trying to sugar coat CIs. I respect people's opinions about them and will not tell them otherwise, but if they do not know all the facts and just look at sources like these and say, OMG look at all the risks...it's really not. That's why everyone MUST do the research beforehand and learn about the CI before getting it. I also am not saying that there's NO risk at all. The article you mentioned has all the risk that people should know beforehand, because if they get the CI then say, "Oh I didn't know that!!", they rather know every little thing. I'm just merely stating why there are risks, how it can be avoided, and when it's really not a huge risk.

 

[Byrdie714]

Good post LadySekhmet.

The other thing is that what would the hearing parents do when their CI child becomes of age and decides that they don't want to wear their CI's anymore.

Then what?

 

[LadySekhmet]

Good post LadySekhmet.

The other thing is that what would the hearing parents do when their CI child becomes of age and decides that they don't want to wear their CI's anymore.

Then what?

That's up to the parent of what they want to do. There are a few that do not want to wear the CIs, and the parents are okay with it. Others "force" it on.

That's ultimately between the parent and the child. This is exactly why if a child has CI, he/she should learn ASL AND spoken language. That way if they decide to take it off for whatever reason, they have another language to back them up.

This is also why I would not implant my own child. I rather have my own child make the choice and decision that he/she wants to be implanted.

 

[Cloggy]

..........
That is the unfortuante thing that is going on with our children. Parents make the decision of putting CI's on them without thinking of the long term consequences....

On the contrary. That's what the parents think about most. In fact, that might be one of the strongest motivators.

I think what you say is true however for some young deaf teenagers that never experienced sound, and just want to try out CI.... but don't want to know about the work involved.