Children and a CI, no. Now deaf children stand out because they have two CI's. I saw it once in Rotterdam.
It used to not really show if you were deaf. Just look at them now.
I feel like these kids and I are not the same anymore. These children are almost like imitations of hearing people. Sad... I wish them good luck.
–I have two children. Neither have a CI.
When CI's were coming up Nathalie was born. We decided that she, like us, gets to remain deaf.
When she was about twelve she asked if she could have a CI too.
I'm not against it, but I did ask why she wanted a CI.
She said that everyone at school had one and that they could all talk really well.
I told her then that I didn't expect her to be able to talk much better because of it, maybe a little bit.
When she said that that was the case with those other children I of course said that she could have one.
She thought about it for a while and decided not to do it.
You often see that when they get older they become annoyed with the CI and take it off or even shut it off completely.
They're bothered by rustle or noises or they get dizzy.
–Mostly the latter, the dizziness.
I play futsal with a team of about 19 or 20 women. Some of them have a CI and they suffer from dizziness as well.
The annoying part is that they have to be really careful and calm during the game because otherwise they become dizzy.
–Eh... what was I saying again...
No not at all... –No, they don't all speak as well.
–I'm not a supporter.
–But for people with sudden deafness? –Yes, of course.
–A CI as well as sign language...
–I think it's sad that deaf people are being forced to only live in the hearing world.
Those children are really deaf. Without a CI they don't hear anything anymore.
–Of course it has its pros and its cons.
That's why they shouldn't just show the advantages, but also the disadvantages.
–Sign language should be priority number one. You always take that with you.
A bilingual upbringing has never hurt anyone.
Everyone thinks that if you learn sign language you don't learn to speak well. That's complete nonsense. Look at our mom, that says enough.
–You won't get a good job because of a CI, it has to do with your own development.
Just the thought. What nonsense!
–Hearing people aren't all highly educated either. Just take a look at my colleagues.
I'm at a higher level than some of them.
No, it's about personal qualities and intelligence, the child's IQ. Being deaf or hearing doesn't matter.
–People used to become deaf because of an illness.
Nowadays there is complex deafness. Now children are born deaf with something else as well.
You see less children being born that are just deaf.
There are deaf families that get a deaf child, but being born just deaf, you see that a lot less now.
Nowadays, more deaf children are being born with something added, an additional problem.
Children get a CI and that doesn't work well. Then they say: see, sign language.
They forget that the child has an extra handicap and that they benefit from sign language. It isn't the cause.
But nope, all deaf children are seen as the same.
They forget that it is about a deaf child with something else.
I'm not against a CI, but sign language should be a part of it. And it's just not true that sign language is at the expense of understandable speech!