Should the Deaf Be Considered an Ethnic Group? Potentials, myths, problems and slippery slope

There's an article that came out this morning called "Should the Deaf Be Considered an Ethnic Group?" An issue brought up by Richard C. Pillard, a School of Medicine professor of psychiatry, saying that the (culturally) deaf should be recognized as a distinct ethnic group. That argument raised (and will raise even more in the coming days) a lot questions, issues, potentials (positive) and myths. But one of the things I noticed is Pillard's bias (just like Harlan Lane who is hearing) against cochlear implant.

For people unfamiliar with them, the implants sound like a medical marvel. But they are problematic, he says. “They work poorly, and that’s something worth emphasizing. You get 24 channels for different octaves and tonal recognition, but the price you pay for that is you’re a kid trying to play soccer and so on with this business strapped to your body.” And the implants, designed to be optimal when used in both ears, destroy residual hearing in people who were not completely deaf before the implants. “It seems to me that what we’re doing is transforming someone who could have a perfectly healthy ethnic identity and turning him into a marginalized kid who can’t speak or hear well, but could learn to sign beautifully,” Pillard says.

Pillard uses a typical red herring tactic by bringing in sports as a reason to not get a cochlear implant implying that such an implant will severely restrict a child's sports activity thereby dooming him/her to a childhood life without sports. It's also a non sequitur because soccer isn't the only sports a child can participate in. It's also incorrect to say that a child with cochlear implant cannot play soccer. This is an attempt to use unfounded fear as a reason not to get an implant. A child with cochlear implant can play soccer without worry using a protective head gear as a recommendation. Just as well, one can even play football just like Adam Strecker who uses his specially designed football helmet adapted for his cochlear implant while wearing it.

Using sports as a reason not to get a cochlear implant is an extremely poor argument to use. Don't go there.

Another argument used is "They work poorly." That is an entirely subjective argument either because Pillard is not overly familiar with the design, up to date procedures and processes involved with a cochlear implant and the implantation itself.  There are varying successes on the beneficial use from this implantation ranging from poor to highly successful.  Various factors play a role in determining success such as parents' participation, the age of implantation, educational input, enthusiasm, and support as well as the integrity of the implant itself.


Adrià and the music of his dreams by octaviroyo

The above video is an example of how a cochlear implant works extremely well as opposed to "they work poorly."  This is only one of the many videos seen on the internet that show children with cochlear implants, implanted at an early age, who have acquired successful listening skill giving them the ability to discern, understand and respond to a spoken language without even looking.  This is complemented with their excellent speaking skills that are equal to that of their hearing peers. If those are the successful cases of cochlear implants working "poorly" then I can't imagine what it'd be like if cochlear implants were to work extremely well. Here's one video of a girl who was implanted at 22 months old with her talking and listening at age 16 years old who wants to be a cochlear implant surgeon.



Over the past few years insertion techniques as well as new cochlear implant electrode design have improved to the point where it doesn't destroy residual hearing.

Success in conservation of residual hearing after cochlear implantation has benefited patients with high levels of residual low frequency hearing who were not previously considered for conventional cochlear implantation. Technological developments play a key role in minimizing trauma to the cochlea during placement of electrodes.

Wearing a hearing aid or even a cochlear implant does not preclude anybody from learning sign language whether it's SEE, PSE, or ASL. Many hearing parents of deaf children with cochlear implants do include sign language as part of the whole communication and language package.

Increasingly you have deaf parents of deaf/hh children where they are cochlear implant wearers, fluent in sign language and are a part of the deaf culture such as the Artinians (from the show Sound and Fury) with the mother who wears an implant after their daughter getting one and the Errigos where both the mother and father wear their implants while their son wears one since age 2.

If the idea is to grant culturally deaf people the status as an ethnic group then, too, culturally deaf parents and their deaf child who all wear cochlear implants and are fluent in sign language should be given that same status as well. There is nothing to say upon granting the status this new ethnic group designation for culturally deaf people that they cannot wear hearing aids or, in this case, cochlear implants. Nothing about the status implies that an "organic" case must be met. There are no disqualifying criteria on signing and talking/mouthing the words at the same time. And if these criteria are to be made absolute then enters the slippery slope problem here on who gets "admitted" into this special ethnic group designation.

More on that later.....

Chris Artinian of Sound and Fury to Speak

Christopher J. Artinian to Deliver Keynote Address, June 16th, 2011
The Hearing Loss Association is delighted to announce that Christopher J. Artinian, Chief Executive Officer and President of Morton’s Restaurant Group, Inc., will be the keynote speaker during the Opening Session at the HLAA Convention 2011, June 16 – 19, 2011, in Washington D.C.

The Artinian family is the subject of the Oscar-nominated film Sound and Fury, which tells the story of brothers: Chris, who was born with hearing, and his older brother Peter, who was born deaf. Both brothers married and both had children who were born deaf. The difficult decision to provide cochlear implants for their children ripped the family apart. Chris and his wife Mari chose to have a cochlear implant for their son, while Chris’s brother and his wife Nita, decided they weren’t quite ready for such a medical procedure for their three deaf children. The families finally came full circle and have put the period of “fury” behind them.

Why the Snarkyism Carl?

First order, congrats to Russell on his successful surgery for his new cochlear implant. He took the time to chronicle his pre-surgery and post-surgery videos (See Pre-surgery, Post surgery,  Post surgery Day #2....more?).  His activation will begin this Friday and I'm sure many will be anxious to see how it goes and join in with his wife and son who both wear cochlear implant. A first and second generation family of cochlear implant users! It's like Sound and Fury all over again with another first and second generation family of cochlear implant users. 

They will still be deaf but will certainly have much greater access to sound than ever before. This is not about being "disabled" but about what you can do and not about on what you cannot do.  But for one deaf person to go online and do a snarky video about Russell's post-implantation results and congratulate him by calling him "disabled" raises the question on his maturity or the lack of maturity for that matter.