They chose to help their child hear, and their families got angry
by Sara McGinnis posted in Parenting
If there were any parents who might be prepared for their child to be deaf, you'd think it would be Ahavah Cook and her husband. They both grew up as children of deaf adults (CODAs), but nonetheless were completely shocked when their son, Elijah, failed to pass his newborn hearing screening.
"We were stunned and heartbroken, yes heartbroken," Elijah's mom recently wrote in a Reddit post inviting others to inquire about their story.
"You would think that this news wouldn't be so bad for a couple who were raised by deaf parents but it wasn't that simple. We have first-hand seen the struggles our parents faced with in unemployment, communication barriers and the fight for education standards among the deaf children." She continued: "Don't get me wrong...I take pride in my parents and my unusual upbringing. The thought of my son facing those barriers was too much for my heart to [bear]. We initially ruled out cochlear implants as an option because we grew up thinking that it didn't work very well and the sound quality was sub par. Not to mention, we were also well aware of the strong opposition to cochlear implants (CIs), especially on children."
Many in the Deaf community feel is deafness not a disability that ought to be "fixed" by modern technology -- it's just a difference.
As Ahavah explains it, "It's a bit of 'we don't need to be fixed' [stance]. It's also that they fear that technology w...
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