Deaf father links, and a M*A*S*H one

[amilyn]

Well... we may have Alyssum, but a bunny has been eating ALL our zinnias. *SULK*

In other news...

"How We Plotted Stories On M*A*S*H" Pretty cool little article (from kirbyfest).

Deaf Father Held In Contempt For Not Making Daughter Use Cochlear Implant Against Her Wishes

Man Faces Contempt of Court for Not Forcing Daughter to Wear Ear Implants
Spokane

Comments

[englishlitrulz]

A few points, and I'm probably going to sound insensitive or ignorant:

Has anyone looked at her left implant and suggested options to make it less uncomfortable? She's fine on the right ear. I bet she wouldn't complain if it didn't hurt. I bet the parents would have argued over something else.

If the girl has and continues to improve her speech skills, I see very few problems with her occasionally not wearing them. If she wants to chuck them out the door at 18 and be totally deaf, fine. Her choice to make when she reaches her majority and the court can't force her or her parents at that point.

Youtubing the girl refusing the gear was a stupid tactic. In fact, I respect her father less for having done it. I wouldn't want to be plastered on YT and be made a political symbol to be rallied around, rather than a human being. The hearing mother and deaf father should be compromising and finding solutions, rather than hurting their kid.

Which leads to my next point: the parents are fighting for control, not about implants. (They are also destroying my faith in either of them to raise their daughter without causing a media storm.)

The judge is sorting out the parents' BS, as is his job. He does it every day. Is he always right? No. Does he want the child to grow up as normal (hearing) as possible? Probably.

[englishlitrulz]

That's very interesting. A less detailed description was included with the articles, but yours was more informative and helpful.

If it's about hearing vs. deaf culture and which they want their child to participate in, the parents should have had this discussion when they had the child originally. That it comes so late in the child's development (1 and 5 were when the implantations occurred), tells me there's something else underlying this situation.

In the end, I mislike this whining to Youtube for validation from invisible people and that their dirty laundry ends up in the daily news. My aunt and uncle battled while they were divorcing--and afterward. The nonsense stayed within the family and was damaging enough to my cousins without bringing in the newspapers and outsiders' opinions.