Deaf culture and disability - Essay Example

In the first part of your essay, assume you are an attorney representing the interests of a nine-year-old child that has been deaf since the age of three. Argue that it is in the best interest of the child to receive a cochlear implant. Wikipedia states that "In December 1984, the Australian cochlear implant was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to be implanted into adults in the United States. In 1990 the FDA lowered the approved age for implantation to 2 years, then 18 months in 1998, and finally 12 months in 2002"( Wikipedia.net) Another reason is if the child is having severe to profound sensorineural hearing impairment in both ears, having a functioning auditory nerve, having lived a short amount of time without hearing, having good speech, language, and communication skills, or in the case of infants and young children, having a family willing to work toward speech and language skills with therapy, not being benefited byother kinds of hearing aids, having no medical reason to avoid surgery, living in or desiring to live in the "hearing world" , and has the support of friends. (Ibid) Another advantage of using cochlear ear implant is that the deaf can now use his or her hands to freely write or to make mathematical computations or even to caress the deaf's girlfriend or boyfriend with more intimacy.

A person has the human right. tes that the implementation of the inalienable rights of all members of the human family" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls on nations to respect the rights to life, liberty, and security (Article 3). This Declaration also states that everyone should enjoy the right to be educated and to basic standards of living. The same declaration calls on nations to provide for all of their citizens without discrimination.

Human rights, in substance, are protections against abuses by all states, and guarantees that people shall receive benefits from states ( Cornell law) The CIGI stated that has stated that "Cochlear Implant Association Inc., while cognizant of the fact that the cochlear implant has materially enhanced the lives of a great many children, is not recommending the cochlear implant for all children" (http://www.cici.org/postat.html). The above data have increased the weight of the weighting scale towards USING the cochlear implant.

In the second part of your essay, take the opposing side and write in opposition to the cochlear implant. Your essay should be equally divided between the two arguments. Some of the reasons why the child should not use cochlear implants are: In the year 2003, "the CDC and FDA announced that children with cochlear implants are at a slightly increased risk of bacterial meningitis (Reefhuis 2003). Many users, audiologists, and surgeons also report that when there is an ear infection causing fluid in the middle ear, it can in fact affect the cochlear implant, leading to temporarily reduced hearing.

" (Wikipedia) Another reason is that some deaf children feel overall worse off with the implant than without them in place. Still another