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Jessica Padgett
Adam Padgett
English 102
28 February 2017
An Annotated Bibliography Inquiry: Cochlear Implants effect on the Deaf Community

Inquiry: For those born without the ability to hear who is to make the decision for them in the
event of a infant/minor? If in the case of a child and it is chosen for them, what effects is this
going to have on them and the deaf community?
Proposed Thesis: The cochlear implant threatens the lifestyle of the Deaf community.

Crouch, Robert A. "Letting the Deaf Be Deaf." Hastings Center Report, vol. 27, no. 4,
Jul/Aug1997, p. 14.
The author begins this article with a story about a man who was the only seeing man in his
village and all the villagers around him believed that he was the one that needed to be
cured. The article puts a little perspective on the side of the deaf community, that one does
not need to hear to be happy and live a fulfilled life. The author goes on to discuss how
medical professionals and hearing parents must be aware of the implications that go along
with the implantation of the cochlear implant in prelingual children. He describes the
implant as a unique invention and something that if one has a more realistic view of
what it can and cannot do, of what deafness is and is not, and of the richly rewarding
lives Deaf people can lead, then it is by no means clear that the use of cochlear implants is
justified in many prelingually deaf children, nor again is it clear that hearing parents
of deaf children are aware of the options open to them when faced with the question of
how to raise their deaf child. The author also goes into detail about the implications of
having a deaf child can have on a family and he recognizes that it isnt an easy decision. I
plan on using this article because it gives a perspective from someone of the deaf
community and one who is not in favor of the use of the cochlear implant. I believe it is a
reliable source; it was published through Hasting center which publishes articles that deal
with the morality and ethics of certain medical procedure.

Gaines III, Robin A. "The Value of Deaf Culture: Should States Have the Right to Mandate
Placement of Cochlear Implants?." Current Surgery, vol. 60, no. 6, Nov. 2003, p. 600.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/S0149-7944(03)00117-X.
This article is on a specific case in the state of Michigan where an attorney attempts to
force a cochlear implant on two deaf foster care children even after the mother (also deaf)
refused to consent to the operation. The childrens care takers and teacher while during
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their stay in foster care believed that it was in the childrens best interest. This article
argues that the state doesnt have the right to force an elective surgery. It states that this
would be a blatant disregard for the values of a culture, and regardless to the potential
success of the surgery mandating the placement would in the words of the author,
suggests the superiority of the hearing culture over deaf culture. This article also goes in
depth about the potential threats to health and benefits of this surgery. I believe this article
reliable and will be useful in order to include the potential health risks and benefits along
with the legal aspects of the surgery into my paper.

Pray, Janet L. and I. King Jordan. "The Deaf Community and Culture at a Crossroads: Issues and
Challenges." Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation, vol. 9, no. 2/3, Apr-
Sep2010, pp. 168-193. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/1536710X.2010.493486.
This article offers an unbiased view of a full history of the Deaf community. It includes a
history of the increasingly improving technology of the hearing aid and the cochlear
implant, the ongoing debate over the most appropriate way to educate deaf children, and
the social adversities that the community has faced throughout its brief history of being. I
believe that I can use this article to build a background of what it has been like to be a
part of the deaf community. If I include their struggles and their triumphs, maybe it will
give a perspective that couldnt be understood without knowing where exactly this
community came from. I also believe that this is a reliable and trustworthy source.

Sparrow, Robert. "Defending Deaf Culture: The Case of Cochlear Implants." Journal of Political
Philosophy, vol. 13, no. 2, June 2005, pp. 135-152. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1467-
9760.2005.00217.x.
This article presents information on cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are a
technology which attempts to "cure" deafness by bypassing the outer ear through
electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. In the last two decades, these implants have
been offered as treatment options not only for adults who have lost their hearing as a
result of accident or disease in later life, but also for children who were deafened as
infants or who were born deaf. An increasing number of operations are being undertaken
on children as young as two years old to install these implants in order to allow them to
begin hearing and learning spoken language of another culture. Cochlear implant
technology represents an attack on the culture of the Deaf, because it seeks to ensure that
deaf children grow up to use a spoken language rather than the signed languages of the
Deaf.

Sparrow, Robert. "Implants and Ethnocide: Learning from the Cochlear Implant Controversy."
Disability & Society, vol. 25, no. 4, June 2010, pp. 455-466. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1080/09687591003755849
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This Article uses the fictional story of the 'Babel fish' to explore and illustrate the issues
involved in the controversy about the use of cochlear implants in prelinguistically deaf
children. The author of this article makes it clear that he is not a part of the deaf
community, but what he goes on to discuss may be considered similar to the opinions of
those who are. He describes a scenario that makes you consider what it would be like to
be among the minority population like that of the Deaf community. It begins with,
Imagine that you are a member of a minority linguistic community. You might think of
yourself as a Native American in the USA or as a non-Han ethnic minority in mainland
China. In the not-too-distant past, members of your community have been imprisoned
and tortured for daring to use their own language. He then goes on to discuss how
because of this persecution you may have a deeply rooted pride for your community and
how you are presented with challenges that the other larger community doesnt face like
continuing education or finding a job. When others look in onto this community though,
they feel pity for the children. They only see a future full of disadvantages for them, so
the medical community and government officials come up with the solution of the Babble
fish. The fish can be put in the childrens ears to make them hear perfectly and assimilate
them to be a part of the larger normal community. Then the author describes the
difference between the scenario provided and the real-life experience. There are 3
differences: The existing cochlear implant is far from perfect and nothing like the Babel
fish, deafness is arguably an organic dysfunction that effects people regardless of
whether it is also a condition or marker of cultural identity; the next generation of
potential members of the Deaf culture are born to parents who are members of another
culture that lack the understanding of the culture the child can/should be a part of. I
believe that this paper is a reliable source partly because the authors ability to maintain
his neutrality throughout. I also believe that this paper shines a light on the
misconceptions that a lot of people believe about the cochlear implant. By reading this it
can be seen that the cochlear implant is not a perfect fix and that there is the possibility to
be happy without receiving it. He continues the paper on into more statistics and
reasoning behind to implant or not to implant. I believe that this paper will be beneficial
to my argument simply because it maintains its neutrality while simultaneously allowing
you to see the cochlear implant from another perspective. It achieves this through a
variety of rhetorical techniques including ethos, pathos and logos arguments.

Weisler, Pedro. No such Thing as a blind culture.Journal of Child Neurology, vol. 27, no. 6,
June 2012, pp. 819-82. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0883073812441249
This article argues that the Deaf culture could be less considered a culture, but more so a
community. It compares the blind community with the deaf community and attempts to
debunk the common thought that the Deaf culture is anything more than a community.
The two groups are comparable because both groups possess similar restrictions. Both
groups are faced with living life without a basic sensory function. It compares the
disabilities and restrictions that both groups are faced with and suggests, they are
simply in the nature of common blindness experiencesnot so all pervasive that they
transcend the diversity that exists among the blind community and impose an all-
consuming culture across our entire community. While I think that yes, they both lack
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one of the senses, but the sensory function that the blind lack doesnt affect
communication. I believe that this paper will help in my argument that if the Deaf culture
isnt even considered a culture, can something like a cochlear implant truly affect it? I
also think that the article will prompt me into finding more articles on this topic for my
research article, maybe from someone in the blind community and their opinion on the
matter. This is a very credible source because it was published by the Journal of Child
Neurology.