Something just clicked.

[pktechgirlbackup]

For a long time, schools for deaf children, when the existed at all, were aimed at teaching the children lip reading and speech and expressly forbade sign language, because they thought that sign was a crutch that would prevent the children from giving 100% to learning to talk.* This was, of course, insane. Not only do you need to give a child a fully functioning language before a certain age for them to ever truly grasp language, but it's mean, and counterproductive. People learn faster when they can approach a problem multiple ways. The idea that you can make people learn something faster by ruining their other options is the sort of thing you'd come up with if you'd never really interacted with another human being. The Deaf community has rightly taken schools to task for this.

But I don't see any difference between that and objecting to cochlear implants because they take kids away from the Deaf community. They're trying to keep someone in in their tribe by killing their other option. Absolutes are dangerous, but I can't think of a time when it's okay to do that.

*Many or possibly all cochlear implant centers still advise against teaching the kids sign, for the same reason.

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

Bilingual education made it past this point. We used to make everyone speak English in schools, but we stopped doing that, and unless it's just a fad, I think we realized that bilingualism is more useful. How is this analogy not obvious with the deaf community?

[pktechgirl.livejournal.com]

Bilingual is exactly what they call the new way of teaching Deaf kids, so someone caught on.

[scythe-of-time.livejournal.com]

AFAIK, it still hasn't in Arizona. Right before I moved three years ago they were trying to outlaw Spanish speaking in schools (aside from Spanish lang. classes) and establish English as the "official" language.

Whoo hoo, systemic and individual racism!

[scythe-of-time.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that stated hearing babies get taught sign more often than Deaf babies with cochlears.

Given how many times I get asked that question about Nolan, I believe it.