After viewing the film Sound and Fury, and learning more about the cochlear implants and the various feelings associated with the operation, I have come to the conclusion that the best possible thing for any deaf child who is a candidate for the surgery would be to have the implant and go through speech therapy.
The fact of the matter is that although deaf people may have the opportunity to become fairly successful in their lives, they cannot be absolutely anything they want to be, it’s not possible with deafness. As a parent, I believe that you should aid your child in realizing their goals. You should have no part in limiting their horizons. I feel that Peter and Nita Artinian had the opportunity to provide their daughter with a future that held anything she wanted, but their decision to keep Heather deaf took some of those opportunities away from her.
Peter and Nita Artinian, the parents of Heather, argued that they were afraid that if Heather received the cochlear implant, she would no longer be part of the deaf community and that she would solely associate herself with the hearing world. I fail to see how this could be accurate. Since both of her parents are deaf, she would still be very involved with the deaf community—she would have to be. Heather would continue to sign in order to communicate with her parents on a daily basis. She would be bilingual, and her life would be enriched because she would be educated and knowledgeable about both the hearing and deaf worlds. I understand that Peter and Nita would have some fear and reservations about having the surgery for Heather because the deaf world is all they know. Sometimes change is scary, but this change would ultimately be the best for Heather.
An argument that was raised during the course of the film was that deaf culture may start to become extinct, and with that, those who are deaf would be further isolated from the hearing community. With the increased technology and how extremely successful the cochlear implant surgery is, this idea is probably not much of a stretch. Deafness today is a disability which today can be reversed fairly simply, and parents are often going to take away any disability which may be limiting to their child.
Although some understandable arguments were mentioned throughout the documentary Sound and Fury against the surgery, my view is that the pros of having your child undergo the cochlear implant operation far outweigh them. The surgery gives deaf children the ability to be all that they are capable of becoming, and it’s simply unfair to make a decision that takes that away from them.
