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Voices of Deafness Transcript
Rita Deitz, 48, Communications Program Director, New York Society for the Deaf
"I don't really like cochlear implants, no. But if my children became blind or ... and they invented a new technology that you could put in the eye, I'd accept that. There's no cultural involvement, there're not cultural issues. If my leg is broken, you could put a machine in my leg to help me walk. I'd accept that. There's no cultural involvement. But the ear is different. There is a culture there already. That makes it a sticky issue. It might destroy our culture and I value it. I cherish it ... I definitely don't want deaf culture to dissolve. We definitely need it. But it needs to change. We need to adjust to fit with people with implants ... When I think about how we can fit with them ... I think support. Then, we'll feel connected.
Trying to preserve deaf culture with the onset of people with cochlear implants is pretty tough. Will people with cochlear implants be really successful, no ...
People who grew up deaf and then got the implant struggle with it; there's a lot of training they have to go through. Maybe they'll pick up a few words here and there, maybe discriminate a few sounds, like an alarm or something like that, but will they be able to understand and hear spoken words like on television, people speaking in conversation? Maybe not. They'll still need eye contact, they'll need to lipread, they'll still depend on lipreading. They won't be like a hearing person. No, I feel that they're still part of the deaf community ... We must educate deaf people not to resist people with the implant. I know you may not like it, but don't resist it. Try to encourage deaf people to help deaf people with cochlear implants so that they feel comfortable in the community. That's really important. The support."
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