Kobayashi Maru and Deafhood

If you don't know the name "Kobayashi Maru" and the concept behind that name then you're not a Star Trek fan. The Kobayashi Maru is the name of a distressed space ship in a simulation exercise for Starfleet members, officers and other cadets. The distressed ship in question is stuck in a "gravitic mine" in the middle of the Klingon Neutral Zone. The ship is losing power, hull integrity and life support failing. The test takers face a serious conundrum. Rescue the ship and face a real possibility of an all out Klingon War or abandon the Kobayashi Maru ship and let her crew and passengers die. A simulation game that was purposely designed that no matter what you do to try and rescue the ship it ends up being a "no-win" scenario.

A "Kobayashi Maru" moment.

Now, this "deafhood" thing is looking more like a "Kobayashi Maru" thing than not simply because of what one blogger said based on hope and expectation. The "The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community" blog described perfectly a "Kobayashi Maru" moment about "deafhood."

I just finished watching the welcome video for the Deafhood foundation. Before I started watching the video, I was wondering- would they mention cochlear implants? I was actually hoping that perhaps the message would be positive and inclusive. Wishful thinking.. Butch mentioned cochlear implants 33 seconds into the welcome message as an example of economic exploitation of deaf people. This did not make it into the English text version though.

The Deafhood foundation is run by well respected Deaf people in the Deaf community, and many Deaf people are impressed by the video and its powerful message. But all I see is a huge obstacle to the acceptance of all of these Deaf children with cochlear implants. Would this lead to increased intolerance for Deaf children who happen to have cochlear implants?

Just so happens that this person with a cochlear implant and ASL user had hoped that this video wouldn't politicize cochlear implant. But it did, 33 seconds into the video. Right off the bat. Bam! It is a politically-motivated video and not about the concept of a personal journey.

What this person failed to realize is that "deafhood" was already politicized from the beginning and that any hopes for this would one way or another get quashed. That video came directly from the Deafhood Foundation organization whose interest seemingly lies more exclusively with the Deaf people than with the rest of the 30+ million people with hearing loss in the United States.

What this shows is that certain segments of the Deaf community constantly derails any expectations for people of all kinds with hearing loss when it comes to "deafhood" because they have already assumed such ownership over the word "deafhood." They are there own worst enemy by turning a supposedly benign concept about a personal journey into a political agenda to self serve their own needs and, to some people, even a selfish purpose.

So, the best scenario in this Kobayashi Maru test is that it's best to simply ignore and abandon any hope for this Deafhood starship stuck in a gravitic mine smack dab in the middle of the Klingon Neutral Zone. Best thing to do is to save your own ass, and your people instead of joining a crew that's destined to die. Others who have taken the test would realize it'd be a no win scenario to try and rescue an already doomed ship so it was better to leave the hapless ship alone and leave. Some figured it'd be better to fire on the Kobayashi Maru ship to spare the already dying crew which was already a no-win situation to begin with. But the bulk of test takers all "died" trying to rescue the trapped Kobayashi Maru ship.

Take your pick.

UPDATE: Take a look at the "What is Deafhood" page. It's even worse and seeks to politicize Deafhood even more, and still begrudges the past to the present. Learn to let go of the baggage and embrace everybody for a change.