I wanted to comment on Dr. White's TedxTalk video " Establishing a Sound Foundation for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard Of Hearing" . With my permission, he used video of our boys signing in the car with their dad.





I will comment in order of the lecture, so you may want to watch the first several minutes to get a context:





First, Karl White says, "If not identified early, the deaf child fails to develop language, has a difficult time in school, is socially isolated, and will have a menial or no job later in life." The entire opening is a typical scare tactic used on hearing parents. The opening line of this TedTalk begins with a negative view of being deaf.









A google search for the word "bullying" pulls up this definition:

Verb

Use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.

I would certainly say medical professionals are in a position of superior influence, as are so-called "experts" in a particular field. Of course, not all medical professionals or experts use that power to intimidate, but what I see here is an example of using intimidation and fear. I see it all too often.





Dr. White speaks of “Amazing advances” enabling deaf children to achieve. While I believe that parents have a right to choose technology to aid and amplify the hearing of their child, it's underplayed and downplayed just how much early acquisition of sign language will help the child in their success, even their success in speech, listening, and reading comprehension.





Even within the Deaf-Blind community, how and when one became both deaf and blind makes the person's life experience vastly different.













If you have not seen this video entitled "Early Intervention: The Missing Link" I highly recommend you watch. This is a much more reasonable way to present the news of a deaf baby to new hearing parents.

Dr. White correctly says, "People are the most important thing. Engaging with the people in your life." That's true. When parents learn that their child is deaf, they will have fears about not being able to engage with their child in the way they are accustomed. The way this talk is presented, parents will assume that without speech (their first language), they will be cut off from their child. Simply put, it's not true.









propaganda and is misleading.









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Travis missed three years of ANY language at all. He was raised in an orphanage without any exposure to signed langauge! In his orphanage, he was surrounded by other children who were severely developmentally and physically delayed. He was plucked out of his home country and culture and brought to America, so any facial cues or lipreading he may have had (didn't seem like he did) was lost instantly.





Tian was not even babbling in Mandarin when we got him at age two. He did respond to sound and we have since learned that he is hard-of-hearing and can hear well in quiet environments. He’s completely bilingual, both signing ASL and speaking English.









In the same way we choose not to implant Travis, we won’t open Tian’s ear with Microtia/Atresia. The risk of the surgery (involving removing bone from his rib and grafting it to his head to build an ear) isn’t worth any possible benefit. If he wants a prosthetic ear when he’s older, we will explore that with him.





In summary, in my opinion, Dr. White does not hold up ASL as an equal option. It is mentioned for the sake of being mentioned. It feels patronizing.

Thanks for reading my response.



