Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Deaf InterpreterPaul HostovskyHer tiny hands, flitting, darting, happily signing as we wait for the audiologist to call her name, are a joy to behold. And it makes me want to take her by the hand and just walk right out of there, me holding her left hand, the Deaf interpreter holding her right hand, the three of us skipping through the waiting room and out the door of the audiology department, away from [End Page 148] her parents who don't know how to sign—who want to "cure" her of being Deaf—away from the hospital and all the doctors with their pathological views of Deaf people.But we can't do that. We must wait here in the waiting room until her name is called. And then we'll go inside for the meeting to discuss the elective cochlear implant surgery that she has not elected to have—her parents are electing it, because, understandably, they want her to be able to hear. And yet she's Deaf. But they didn't sign up for having a Deaf child. In fact, they were probably devastated when the audiologist told them: Your child is profoundly deaf.Lower case d deaf: people who have a hearing loss. Upper case D Deaf: people who have a hearing loss and for whom sign language—and its attendant culture—represents their primary experience and allegiance; people who mostly attend Deaf schools, mostly marry other Deaf people, mostly hang out with Deaf friends and Deaf family, attend Deaf events and Deaf sporting competitions and Deaf theater and Deaf parties and barbeques and Deaf conferences and conventions, and are active in Deaf civic organizations and Deaf politics.Ninety percent of Deaf people are born to parents who hear, who, for the most part, don't know any Deaf people, don't know how to sign, and want nothing more than for their child to be "normal," to be hearing, like them. So when the audiologist tells them about the option of an invasive surgery whereby they can implant an electrode in the cochlea of the inner ear and give the child a possibility of greater access to sound, the parents jump at the chance, the hope, of somehow making their Deaf child hearing.But what about the other ten percent, the Deaf children who are born to Deaf parents? Well, that's an entirely different story: When the audiologist tells a Deaf couple that their child is profoundly deaf, those parents will often celebrate the news, smile a big knowing Deaf smile and give each other a big Deaf hug and high-five, and maybe even give the benighted audiologist a hug and a high-five too, for being the bearer of great tidings. Because healthy Deaf babies are good, the more, the better.As for the ninety percent of Deaf children who are born to hearing parents, growing up to be a happy, healthy, linguistically, and culturally Deaf adult is not something they are able to learn from their parents. It's something that takes place horizontally instead of vertically (i.e., from other Deaf people). It's not unlike the experience of gay children, trans children, or transracially adopted children (e.g., children of color with white adoptive parents) who often don't learn to embrace their identities until they reach adulthood and meet others who are like them. But if there were a way to implant gay children to make them straight, or to implant trans children to make them cis, or to implant children of color to make them white, there would rightly be a public outcry condemning the practice as unethical and immoral. And yet the vast majority of Deaf infants and Deaf children worldwide are being implanted in the name of medicine, in an attempt to make them hearing, an attempt to eradicate Deaf people for their own good because some people don't value the way they are different. And the silence is deafening.While the Deaf interpreter and I are chatting with the little Deaf girl in the waiting room and she is animatedly telling us about her favorite things, her parents are checking their...