Watching this video really opened my eyes. I never realized that deaf people felt that their world was living inside another. A person would have to lead an entirely different way of life to truly understand them. Throughout the film I found myself constantly changing my stance on the issue because I could see valid arguments on both sides. The main argument I had against the implant is the fact that I don’t know what it is like to be deaf.
That made me realize, yes, I don’t know what is like to be deaf, so I have no evidence to believe that someone’s life would be better that way. I realized that I belong to the “hearing discourse,” and that is all I have ever known. That’s how I decided that if in the future I was to have a child that was born deaf, I would get the cochlear implant for them. The hearing world is the one I thrive in. My entire family can hear, my friends can hear, and the vast majority of my community can hear. I would want my child to grow up in the world I was familiar with, so I could help them succeed and be the best they can be. If they did not have the implant, I am not sure how well I would be able to communicate with them. I would always feel an invisible barrier between the two of us.
The evidence I have actually comes from the deaf family in the film. Since their entire family is deaf, they felt it was best that Heather did not get the transplant—the deaf world was the one they thrived in. If Heather was to get an implant, they felt she would be taken out of their world and be placed in one that was unfamiliar to them. In other words, they would be losing a connection to their daughter. My argument has the same intention behind it, yet it comes from a different perspective.
I was happy to see that the deaf people in the movie didn’t feel that they had a disability. They had a positive outlook on life, and people who have that are always the happiest. I have to say I disagree with them though. Peter said he was in a high position at his job, yet he also stated he had trouble communicating with his co-workers. He also knew that there was no hope of him climbing the corporate ladder. To me, this is a handicap. Something that prevents you from becoming something you want to be is a handicap.
How do we determine what is better for someone? Most of us have only lived in one world—either the hearing or the deaf. We are biased because we only know one side of the story. It would be interesting to ask someone who has lived in both worlds to see what they think.
