I came across this interesting captioned video which gives a CI user’s insight into his experience. It’s a US video but I thought UK viewers would like to see it, as it throws up some interesting questions about identity, communication, perceptions, acceptance, and CI after-care. They never told me you get headaches after a CI! What else don’t they tell you?!
This video makes me think about my deaf identity in terms of a CI, if I had opted for implantation (I was deemed suitable for one), about the communication breakdowns that would result and need rebuilding, about others’ attitudes towards me pre and post-CI. I had a student who had a CI and he didn’t get much after-care support, he was ‘lost’ until he found a group of deafened people he could communicate with and who understood his very valid concerns. Unlike me, he had always been hearing until he suddenly went deaf, so I understood his motives for getting a CI. Hmmmm - all very difficult and emotive issues. I liken opting for a CI to having religious faith - it’s a leap into the dark. I just can’t do it.
Click here for a video clip ‘The ugly truth of CI’ from Jack Barr.
I came across this interesting captioned video which gives a CI user’s insight into his experience. It’s a US video but I thought UK viewers would like to see it, as it throws up some interesting questions about identity, communication, perceptions, acceptance, and CI after-care. They never told me you get headaches after a CI! What else don’t they tell you?!
This video makes me think about my deaf identity in terms of a CI, if I had opted for implantation (I was deemed suitable for one), about the communication breakdowns that would result and need rebuilding, about others’ attitudes towards me pre and post-CI. I had a student who had a CI and he didn’t get much after-care support, he was ‘lost’ until he found a group of deafened people he could communicate with and who understood his very valid concerns. Unlike me, he had always been hearing until he suddenly went deaf, so I understood his motives for getting a CI. Hmmmm - all very difficult and emotive issues. I liken opting for a CI to having religious faith - it’s a leap into the dark. I just can’t do it.