A Cochlear Story

Amanda Johnson writes:  "I definitely had an emotional response to["American Sign Language: It's Not Mouth Stuff--It's Brain Stuff" by Richard Wolkomir (pp. 672-681)]. I have two first cousins that are deaf. Jacob is eight, and Joseph is three. They are brothers, and both have the same two parents. My aunt and uncle were genetically tested after Joseph was born to see why both of their sons were born deaf, but their oldest daughter was not. With Jacob, we just assumed it was a coincidence and really random that he was born deaf, but when Joseph ended up with hearing loss as well, we began to seek answers. Turns out, my aunt and uncle both carry a deaf gene, which is only effective in the male chromosome. The doctors told us that had Jessica (their oldest daughter) been a boy, she would have been deaf too.

"Being around deaf children on a daily basis, reading this chapter just really got to me. People who oppose sign language are just extremely narrow minded. Point blank. Jacob is profoundly deaf, which is the highest level of deafness. That means he can't hear anything whatsoever without his cochlear implants in. Yes, I said cochlear implants. Thankfully (after almost a year of fighting with the insurance company), Jacob was able receive cochlear implants (1 at age one and a half and the other at age 2). Joseph is only moderately deaf, which means he is able to fully function with hearing aids. However, if his hearing continues to digress like it has been, he will end up needing implants as well.

"You're probably wondering why this chapter spoke to me as it did if neither of the boys have to use sign language. And the reason for that is, because we simply got lucky. Whenever our family was in such a debacle with my aunt and uncle's insurance company not wanting to fund Jacob's implants, we truly thought we were all going to have to learn sign language and become extremely fluent in it because that would have been our only way of communicating with Jacob. Thank God we won the case and his implants were covered by insurance... but what if they hadn't been? What if these precious little boys weren't so fortunate? What if my family had been one of the others out there who can't afford implants but their insurance won't cover it? THAT's why I care so much.

"Sign language IS a language. I don't care what anyone says. People can dispute about it til the cows come home, and I will never waver with my opinion. The people of the deaf community basically hate anyone who has implants or uses any type of hearing aid, simply because they don't believe in correcting what God gave you. My family also sees that as a bunch of bologna. Are you going to just never get glasses or contacts, even if you need them? Yeah, exactly. You wouldn't. You would correct your vision. So with that being said, "implant havers" and "sign languagers" (as we call them) will never get along, but that doesn't mean I won't continue to stand up for them because that could have been us. My cousins and our family could have ended up having to learn sign language, which means I will ALWAYS defend the people of the deaf community and their language.

"If you're interested, [here are] two links from K10 News who covered their story [one and two]. Hearts for Hearing (Jacob's doctors) made the video showing clips from when he first got his implants turned on, to about a year ago. It will melt your heart. I cry every time. I also attached a picture of the boys, to where you can see both of their devices."