In my opinion, I don't think the deaf culture and ASL is dying. I'll explain why.
Most people whom I know, knows ASL and has a CI, they still are involved with the deaf community. I'm trying to get more involved with my deaf community, its hard because i have a busy schedule because of band. (i know i use that sentence alot) I still use ASL even though I have 2 CI's. Here's what I'm talking about:
Even though I have CI's, I still rely on ASL, as well as an interpreter, and lipreading. My Implants arent good in a noisy environment for me (or any other deaf person with HA's or CI's) And I use ASL to communicate with my parents. I even taught some of my friends in the band how to sign so they can communicate with me if they needed too, like giving me the instructions that are given from the band directors, or telling me whats going on in a conversation. I still use my visual sense when it comes to being in a hearing world/ deaf world. In the hearing world, i use the vibrations and i use my eyes alot because I can't always rely on my CI's because you don't know what things you're going to be able to hear or what you can hear. I lip read a lot, and in some ways, i'm alot like evelyn glennie. Shes a deaf percussionist over in germany (i think) and she uses her bare feets to keep in tempo. I'm also a deaf percussionist, I mainly play the marimba. I'm positioned behind the drumset so i can feel the vibrations to be able to stay within the tempo. We also have a visual "prep" in our section (which is the front ensemble or otherwise known as the "pit") which means our mallets go up and down in a clear visual for us to know when our turn is coming, and we have to look into the middle alot to make sure that we're playing the right thing, and so on.
I understand that there are some Deaf people not liking the CI's. I know some things that people who recently got a CI are JUST starting to hear things that are important to them because its a big impact on their lives. But I think that when i think of CI's, they're meant to help people, not take away their identity or being mainstreamed,etc. I mean, When i take my Ci's off, i'm still a deaf person on the inside. It doesn't matter if i have a CI or not, I'm still a deaf person and that part of me is my identity. When I was 8 years old I got my first CI on my left ear. Many people think that parents force their kids to have a CI because they want them to hear and to have a better life. Truth is, Parents wants whats best for their kids. I mean they're not your kids, its theirs. And when I got my first CI, I made the decision to have one. As well as my 2nd CI too. A lot of schools wants deaf students to be very oral, which is true because i guess its because of reputation? i'm not sure, but that part, my parents forced me to have intensive speech therapy at age 4. But lets look at the pros to that: 1) with Ci's and HA's and intensitive speech therapy, I can help communicate between both worlds, because i'm fluent in ASL and i had alot of speech therapy. I can help the hearing world understand better about the deaf world, I can support the deaf world by voicing out to the hearing world. Honestly, i think all this CI drama is about teaching the Hearing world what we believe and know.
sorry that this post is long, I just wanted to voice out my opinion. I understand that there are going to be people not agreeing with me, but i mean i'm only 17 years old, a junior in high school, and I'll tell you this, I have been interviewed so many times by BOA, WGI and in a drumline documentary and I have talked about my deaf community and I was also signing as well. SO they KNOW that the deaf community is still an important part of my life. Because guess what? I'll be deaf for the rest of my life. And even though I'm not in the deaf community alot, I'm proud of it and our accomplishment from what we have done over the past years in history.
