A message to Dr. Thomas Balkany of University of Miami
An Iraqi girl gets a donation of a cochlear implant from kind Americans. However, Jared, a deaf blogger, has questioned how exactly this benefits and will benefit her.
Personally, I don’t have a problem if the deaf person chooses to have a cochlear implant if he/she feels that it would be beneficial. What I do have a problem with is when hearing person like yourself, looks down on other deaf persons who choose not to have a cochlear implant and go ahead to make the bold statement that their life is not normal.
I feel one comment on the post says it best:
Since the girl’s already implanted/will be implanted, I find myself wondering what support systems will be in place for her once she returns to Iraq. We all know an implant is worthless without years of therapy. Since the girl is three and I assume she lacks any kind of language, any future acquisition will require intense support. I doubt any support system is in place. Where are the skilled Iraqi audiologists, speech therapists, and deaf educators which are usually necessary to help a post-implanted child acquire nominal interaction skills?
Oh well, read on…
