TV Shows

Check your local listings for exact times and dates of the shows.

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If you are interested, there's a "Cold Case" episode on Sunday, March 30th (on CBS).

This episode focuses on the controversy of CIs (cochlear implants) within the Deaf community. It is going to be situated in a boarding (or residental) school for the Deaf.

Another show, a Hallmark show, will air on CBS April 20 called "Sweet Nothings in My Ear" starring Marlee Matlin. It is about a deaf wife and a hearing husband. They have a son who is deaf. The husband wants him to have a CI. Disagreements between the parents ensue.

While I understand the issue of the Deaf culture's debate with the CI, I think that it's becoming more and more common to see CI users. I don't know how much they are accepted now than they were in the past. I do not believe that CIs will make the Deaf culture obsolete. Even though I am oral, I like to use signs as a back up tool. When I am having a hard time understanding someone, my oldest will fingerspell so I "get" it. A CI is not any different. It helps you to hear better, but it's not perfect. Sign language can still be something to fall back on.

I really do not agree with the rationale that children implanted with CIs should be 100% oral. My parents were told not to learn sign language. "Make them talk," was the doctor's comment. (This was in the 1960s-oralism was pretty heavy and it seems to be that way with some children with CIs.) If we learned signs, we wouldn't talk. A lot of deaf children were mainstreamed in this way. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. I was lucky enough to be signing at school, even though I didn't sign at home. I taught my hearing sister the manual alphabet and we fingerspelled to each other. My hard-of-hearing brother and sister were mainstreamed at an earlier age than I was. They did not retain signs very well. I was mainstreamed in 8th grade so I was able to retain a lot of signs. My brother knows very little signs and my sister just completed an ASL class. Kudos to her. (Now we can sign together.)

When the hearing aids came out, they were not happy with audism/oralism.

I grew up with a small number of d/Deaf students and if I remember correctly, they've all worn hearing aids even though their hearing was much worse than mine was (at that time). We signed, some worked harder to learn speech, but our teachers were built-in interpreters. We were encouraged to use all forms of communication.

I guess you could say I was "bi-lingual" in the respect that I was oral and used signs when I was around the d/Deaf. I am not a fluent ASL signer, but I do use SEE or PSE. I can be a bit "rusty" in some signs because they've been modified in the past 20 years. If I did forget any signs, it easy for me to relearn it. Kind of like riding a bike-at least for me it is.

But is it "wrong" to be oral? To sign?

I look at it this way: A Spanish family moved into the area ten years ago. While the children grew up, they spoke Spanish within their family circle, but while attending an American school, they picked up on the English language. They learned to speak English, even though they still spoke Spanish at home. The parents of these children picked up on the English language very slowly. Some Spanish-American children end up translating for their parents.

Maybe that's not the best anology, but you get my drift. Then again, I don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers. It can be a touchy subject.

A movie to rent: I just heard about a movie called "What's Bugging Seth?". It is about a deaf man who strives to be successful despite his adversity (hearing loss). It is based on the filmmaker's (Eli Steele) life.

There have been an increasing amount of TV exposure about deafness and all I want is that it portrays the right image. There are too many stereotypes.

I've seen movies/TV shows about blindness. All I want is a more realistic account of certain diseases. Is that too much to ask?

The other day I watched a re-run of Monk. He is a germophobic investigator that solves crimes. He has a lot of hang-ups he has to deal with. He also still grieves for his late wife, Trudy.

In this episode, a woman was "cured" from RP with a corneal implant from his late wife. I was a bit amused, but at the same time not too happy to see that. A corneal implant will not cure RP. RP is involves the rods and cones of the retina. It has nothing to do with the cornea.

There's more, but I'll get off my soapbox...