Let there be sound

I was born February 4, 1992 as the youngest of four, with two older sisters, and one older brother. My parents were experienced parents by the time I was born, and they knew the drill of raising a kid. But there was one thing that set me apart from my siblings as a child. I was born profoundly deaf, but the doctors did not check my hearing. So when I started worrying my parents with my unusual behavior, they brought me to the doctors to get me checked out. My parents first reactions were completely normal to the life changing news from the doctor that I was deaf, shock and anxiety thinking I could never have a semblance of a normal life and that I would never have a life of those of my peers and siblings. But my parents did not just throw-up their arms in defeat and acceptance after the initial shock, they immediately asked about what they could do to help me. One of the ideas that was discussed and finally chosen was cochlear implants, which would change the rest of my life.

Cochlear implants were a new technology that came out recently before I was born. It is a device that functions with an external device, and an internal device. The internal device, which is surgically implanted into the child, with a wire with a snail shaped coil of tiny electrodes at the end, called the "electrode array," is inserted in the inner ear. The electrodes with the proper codes from the external device, would stimulate the auditory nerve utilizing small bursts of electricity. The brain, amazingly enough, can use this electrical stimulation as sound. The external device, which has the microphones takes the sound in the area around the deaf person, and send it to the internal device via radio transmission held in place by magnets between the external and internal devices. These amazing devices are being treated with trepidation from certain communities. Not only from the Deaf Culture, fearing it as a genocidal technology, but parts of the hearing society who fear that implanting this device in children who are deaf takes away their choice in a very monumental decision that affects the rest of their lives and infringes on the rights of the Deaf Culture. It is a very controversial technology right now, with many debates on its usage. A comparison of this controversy can be compared to the idea of blogs. For right now blogs are in state of controversy as well, as part of the new wave of Internet writing that emphasis the actual content and speed instead of the traditional formal writing emphasis. Some people fear that blogs and other writing on the Internet are degrading the level of writing skills of the new generation who use it often. So just as the English departments around the world are trying to come in terms of the new style of writing and how it fits in with the traditional writing, people are trying to understand the cochlear implants role.

So I got my first cochlear implant at the age of two. It was a new process to implant kids at such a young age, and nobody could be sure of the results. But through a lot of hard work of the people around me, especially my parents, and a lot of time spent in speech therapy and listening exercises, I am able to participate in normal activities with no one being the wiser that I am deaf.

Gallaudet

Gallaudet is a famous college for the deaf in D.C., and recently there have been many debates and protests over the future of the college, because of the introduction of cochlear implants and changes in the education policies for deaf students, in the Washington Post there was an article that highlights some of the debates and what the college is doing,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/gallaudet-university-adjusts-to-a-culture-that-includes-more-hearing-students/2011/09/23/gIQAC3W9tK_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

What do you think about the changes, and would you do anything differently? Just some things to think about.

Old Poems

I attended a elementary school called CHS, or the Concord Hill School from kindergarten to third grade. One of the art classes that I took there had a project where we had to write a little poem and cut out a picture in the magazine that you liked, and combine the two. The result of my project, had a little picture of an eagle, with a small poem under it that went:

 Life and Death

Noise and Silence

 I am between

 Life and Death

Noise and Silence

Because I am Deaf

It is from this silly poem that I got the idea for my blog title, Life and Deaf. My mom put the poem on the fridge when I came home from CHS, and today it is still there on my fridge. So I have never forgotten my little poem.

The First Step

The idea of blogging never really caught my attention before, there were always other blogs to read, or books, or some other activity to do. But now I am taking an English class that requires students to create and keep a blog. At first I was a little wary at the idea of starting a blog, even if its for class, but over time as I thought about it, the idea of a starting a blog gets better and better. I have spent a lot of time talking with concerned parents of deaf children, or other deaf people about cochlear implants, deaf culture, how I did in school with cochlear implants in mainstream schools, and all other sorts of different questions regarding my self and deafness. So I thought why not use this blog as a chance to answer questions that people may have and and fulfill my class requirements, killing two birds with one stone.

Feel free to send me a email with any questions or thoughts that you may have to me at, mellonw@gmail.com