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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.deaf-l
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 13:46:48 EST
From:         Marvin Miller <71302.473@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      ZYKLON-B Deaf Culture's Holocaust?

This is a repeat of my previous posting, but this time the wraparound mess
should be cleared up. Sorry for the inconvinence.

Marvin Miller
71302,473 CIS
DEAF.MICHIGANDER (DeafTek)



November, 1992
The Deaf Michigander

        Recent 60 Minutes' coverage of a deaf girl who received the cochlear
implant touched off a debate on several issues, such as do parents have the
right to make the decision for their deaf child? Should the implants be even
allowed to be marketed? and so forth...
        National Association of the Deaf President Roz Rosen brought up
concerns about the risks of the surgery, low rate of success - on the average,
fact that the implantee becomes a patient for rest of his/her lifetime.
        Those concerns are valid, but will it be in the near future? Since the
modern medicine has made tremendous leaps and bounds in last century, it is
logical to assume that it won't be long before they come out with a perfect
cochlear implant, enabling most deaf children to hear. If that does happen,
those concerns probably will be academic.
        The real issue here is do parents or any human being have the right to
commit a cultural genocide?
        Anybody who took world history class in their high school years will
remember the Nazi Germany's Final Solution to the Jewish Question. That's
where the title of this editorial comes from.
        Zyklon B was crystalline compound developed by Nazi scientists to be
used specifically to kill all Jewish people who were in one of those
concentration camps.
        But before we go into this analogy, we should discuss the questions
that arise when one wants to implant their child.
One would dismiss the idea of giving a child a sex-change operation if they
really wanted a girl instead of a boy. One would not accept the idea of
changing the color of skin of an adopted African-American baby so that the
baby can be just like her/his white parents and so the child can be part of
the majority instead of minority.
        The Deaf community views the deaf child just like the African-American
community view an African-American baby. The African-Americans have displayed
their outrage when a white parent adopts an African American baby. They are
concerned that the child will grow up without an identity. Both white and
African-Americans will reject the child.
        The African-American community, generally speaking, will accept the
adoption if the parents intend to raise the African-American baby as a part of
the African-American culture.
        By drawing this comparison does not mean we should condone this kind
of prejudice, but unfortunately... our children will bear the brunt of the
damage if we foolishly dismiss the cultural and language elements that is
unique to the child and the community when growing up.
        The members of Deaf community want very much to "adopt", in the sense
of the word, that deaf child. We share a very unique bond, culture, language
and a proud heritage.
        To many hearing people, it may sound a bit absurd that a loss of
hearing is not considered as a disability.
        To them, they can not imagine a world without sound, voices and music.

        To us, we can not imagine a world without a rich visual expression,
voices of sign language, music of hands flying around rapidly.
        To us, our deafness is a passport to a new world, a world that demands
to be explored. The word, isolation, is the furthest thing from our minds.
        Yet to the hearing people, its the dominant word in their minds.
        Neither the hearing nor deaf world is better than the other. It's just
that the hearing world makes up the majority of the population.
        So did the Nazis. They made up the majority of the population, and the
leaders decided that the Jewish people didn't fit into their grand vision of a
master race. The medical technology was not as advanced at that time as it's
going to be in near future, so the idea of "converting" all Jewish people to a
nation of blonde, blue eyes, fair-skinned Ayran race wasn't feasible by any
long shot. What was their next best solution? Exterminate them.
        Whereas today its possible, medically speaking, to convert a deaf
child into a hearing one. The process might not be perfect, but in due time,
it will.
        To be fair to the medical profession, this should not be taken as an
accusation. The probability of an implant doctor undergoing an extensive Deaf
culture and language sensitivity training is minimal. The same goes for
officers of the Cochlear Corporation.
        If anything, they are merely guilty of ignorance.
        Yet, ignorance carries a price.
        Most of the doctors feel they are geninuely doing this out of best
interests for the deaf children. By doing this, they are unintentionally
carrying out something that looks and sounds alarmingly like the Nazi's Final
Solution.
No one really expects to have a deaf child, and all of the sudden, the parents
find themselves holding a deaf baby. Naturally, they want their child to be
like them, and having a deaf child does not fit with their "plans".
        The Jewish people didn't fit with the Nazis' "plan" either.
        The first step in addressing this problem is to have all doctors,
surgeons and company officals trained in the Deaf culture and language
sensitivity. As Doctor Cohen on '60 Minutes' claims they do not stand to make
a lot of money out of the implants. What do they have to lose by taking Deaf
culture training?
        It's alarmingly easy to carry out the implant surgery once you
rationalize this by saying, "I'm helping a person to be a whole again." That
implies that the deaf child is less of a person. In order to implant the
child, the doctor HAS to believe the child is a less of a person without
his/her hearing.
The Nazi Germany used the very same rationalization with the extermination of
the Jewish people, "They aren't truly human beings. They are not our equals,
therefore it's OK to kill them off."
        To the Deaf community, whether one likes it or not, the parents
ultimately, and rightfully so, hold the final decision of what to do with
their deaf children. We must learn to respect their power, and a heavy burden,
of making the decision. We can't and shouldn't wrest that control away from
them. We should do our best to make sure they are presented with all possible
information before they make their decision. In the other words, we, as a
community, have a responsibility to them.
        Instead of shirking the responsibility by using a wide range of
excuses such as, "If the hearing people are the oppressors, why should we help
them?", "Why should I do all the sacrificing here?", and "I don't want to deal
with hearing people because I have had enough of them," we must rise to the
occassion and face the challenge.
        To the hearing community, whether one likes it or not, Deaf people
consider themselves a lingustic and cultural minority. To call them a disabled
group people is exactly like calling African-Americans or Hispanic Americans a
disabled group. In order to understand deafness, one must be prepared to
listen what the Deaf community has to share. One can not ignore them just
because they don't fit with one's views on deafness.
        The Nazi Germany thought the Final Solution to the Jewish Question was
to wipe out the Jewish people, using Zyklon B.
        Was it the right solution?
        Hearing society thinks the answer to the deafness is a perfect
Cochlear Implant device. Like I mentioned before, it won't be long before they
do come out with one. The resulting effect probably will extensively damage
the Deaf community.
        Is it the right solution?
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