Cochlear Implants, Deaf Culture, Etc.

[Dead Cat]

One of my old roommates got a coclear implant when she was three. She seems pretty well adjusted to it, but admits that she talks "kinda funny" because of it.

[C is for]

Guys, I've been swimming again. It may be time to accept that I'll always smell like chlorine, no matter how much I scrub down.

I think this one can go back to the random chatter thread.

There's a couple of them. I was too lazy to do anything about it, but I don't think it'll affect either discussion much.

[krebscout]

This is interesting to me as the parent of a hard-of-hearing child - his hearing loss is mild-moderate, so he couldn't get a cochlear implant if he wanted to (I forget the reason, but the hearing loss has to be profound to qualify), but he does have hearing aids. They're less conspicuous than an implant, and before I recently cut my son's hair, some people we've known for a while didn't even notice he had them. The technology has advanced (and will continue to do so) so that hearing aids can be all but invisible on an adult. And with how early it was caught, his speech ought to develop normally (and it's looking good right now). So he could probably pass just fine as a normally-hearing adult, and we don't intend to raise him with anything but hearing culture in mind (mostly because that's all we know).

But right now, as a child, he's just barely starting to notice that he has hearing aids and other kids don't. And other, older kids notice it, too. He gets asked all the time, "WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS ON YOUR EARS?" before their parents blush and shush them because they think it's impolite to ask. I want kids to ask, I want our son to be able to talk to them about it. I desperately don't want it to be an embarrassment, or something that he senses makes other people uncomfortable. It may be a "disability" but technology has solved it, it's done, he's just as capable of thriving in the hearing world as any other kid now. How does this sort of thing affect a kid, though? Socially? Emotionally?

Interesting side note: the gene that we both carry that caused the hearing loss is a distinctive one, and it comes "exclusively" from the Ashkenazi Jew bloodline. The doctor was shocked when both of us denied knowledge of having any Jewish heritage at all. Now we're both kind of doubting our family history, and intend to probe our genealogically-minded relatives about it.

Also, I almost typed my son's real name in here about five times.

[C is for]

What, Voldemort? It's okay, we know that's his name.

[krebscout]

What, Voldemort? It's okay, we know that's his name.

Heh, lil baby Voldy. I think most people here do know or could very easily find his real name, and I'm not worried about it. Just want to keep up appearances of anonymity.

[Whistler]

you're Jewish!

[Katya]

I'm fascinated by the anecdotal reports of keen senses--does it imply that our senses would be better if we only trained them? Suddenly I feel like I'm not living up to my potential as an animal.

I've read articles (maybe Oliver Sacks stuff?) about people who have one sense diminished and another sense heightened (i.e., are blind but have unusually acute hearing), but in those cases, the parts of their brain that would normally have been used for the diminished sense are actually repurposed to supplement the other sense(s). So, the part of your brain that's supposed to process sight gets bored (because there's no sight to process) and looks for something else to do. However, if that's what's always going on in the case of heightened senses, it makes me skeptical that people who don't have a diminished sense could have a heightened sense, because we don't have those parts of our brain lying fallow, so to speak.

[Dragon Lady]

Katya! You're back! I've missed you! (I don't remember… did I ever post my dream on here as to why Katya has been gone for so long?)

[Dead Cat]

Katya! You're back! I've missed you! (I don't remember… did I ever post my dream on here as to why Katya has been gone for so long?)

Yes, yes you did.

I had a dream that she started dating a guy really seriously and that's why she stopped checking the board board. She just didn't have time.

… at least, I'm pretty sure it was a dream. I can't think of any real-life evidence that points to that.

[Katya]

I had a dream that she started dating a guy really seriously and that's why she stopped checking the board board. She just didn't have time.

… at least, I'm pretty sure it was a dream. I can't think of any real-life evidence that points to that.

Ha! I wish. (There is, arguably, a guy involved, but it's more like a guy I used to work with quit and they're not rehiring for his job, so I inherited most of it and now I'm crazy busy all the time.)

[Katya]

But right now, as a child, he's just barely starting to notice that he has hearing aids and other kids don't. And other, older kids notice it, too. He gets asked all the time, "WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS ON YOUR EARS?" before their parents blush and shush them because they think it's impolite to ask. I want kids to ask, I want our son to be able to talk to them about it. I desperately don't want it to be an embarrassment, or something that he senses makes other people uncomfortable.

At this stage, I think that everyone involved is going to take their cues from you (or Sauron). Voldemort because you're his mom, other kids because you're an adult, and other parents because it's your (and Voldy's) feelings they're worried about. So maybe you can think of a simple script for handling the situation in a straightforward and comfortable manner. Ex., you're in line at the grocery store, a kid behind you asks his mom why V. has funny things in his ears and his mom shushes him. You could turn around and say (in a very friendly way), "It's OK to ask about them. They're called hearing aids and they help V. hear better, kind of like how glasses help some people see better. Do you have any other questions?"

You won't have a chance to say this every time you hear someone talking about his hearing aids in passing, but the more you take the chance, the more comfortable you'll get with it.

It may be a "disability" but technology has solved it, it's done, he's just as capable of thriving in the hearing world as any other kid now. How does this sort of thing affect a kid, though? Socially? Emotionally?

That will probably depend on his personality. There's a little boy in my ward about V.'s age who wears hearing aids and he's the most hilariously extroverted person you'll ever meet. As soon as he gets the floor in any situation, he starts doing tricks and telling you everything he knows about things. With that kind of personality, I don't think this kid will ever mind getting extra attention for wearing hearing aids. On the other hand, a very shy child could be stressed out about feeling weird or different in any way, and might get upset some times about having to wear hearing aids. Overall, though, I think he'll take his cues from you and Sauron. The hearing aids will get smaller as he gets older and most people will know him for a while before they realize he wears them, so he'll learn to think of them as something good but ultimately not a big deal, if that's how you and Sauron act about it.

Interesting side note: the gene that we both carry that caused the hearing loss is a distinctive one, and it comes "exclusively" from the Ashkenazi Jew bloodline. The doctor was shocked when both of us denied knowledge of having any Jewish heritage at all. Now we're both kind of doubting our family history, and intend to probe our genealogically-minded relatives about it.

How very odd. It would be cool (but probably expensive) to get your parents tested to see which line the gene is coming from.

[Wisteria]

I don't know about that specific test, but it should be accomplishable with a simple PCR test, which shouldn't be very expensive. But I have no idea how much overhead they'd tack on for having a genetic counselor interpret the results.