deaf culture

This post has two parts.

Part the First: wherein encounters with the public library lead to benefits beyond my wildest dreams.

In a week, Ellis will begin his first experience having a personal ASL interpreter in a hearing setting. He will just barely five years old. He has been in great situations thus far. At school, he has full access to communication, because he goes to a Deaf school. At home, we do our best to also provide as full access as we can. And we, his parents, bridge the gap as best we can in other situations, such as extended family or church.

So why three parts? Because I had more thoughts than I had time at a time to write. And because what I wanted to say falls roughly into three points: background, what's going on now, and the obligatory abstract reflections.

Incidentally, this is Christopher writing.

The two month mark has passed from E's CI activation. He's doing well, especially expressively. When he's wearing the CI, he more regularly turns to his name/other sounds. And he's consistently saying "bye-bye" and "aaah" for airplane. He's imitating speech sounds very well. I'm continually amazed at how great his speech therapist is.

bust of Laurent Clerc

E and I are at my parents' for a couple of days.
Hoping to enjoy friends, the dog, throwing rocks in the pond, riding trains, fresh tomatoes and peaches, And I have a couple of brilliant sewing projects to finish.

So back to our regularly scheduled blog-lite. Thanks to all who contributed to a lively discussion here this weekend. You've certainly given us a lot to talk about, as we hope to have contributed just a wee bit, too. Cheers, peeps!

Though I almost never post on my wife's blog, I almost always read through the comments she gets re. d/Deaf issues. Mostly I tend to stay away from commenting, because I have a tendency to take things personally, whereas she is much more measured in her responses. However, I feel like taking this opportunity to reiterate for those not familiar with our story, some of our reasoning about the CI.

It seems that most of the negative reactions to Ellis' CI center on the accusation that we are doing what is best for ourselves, and not what is best for Ellis, because: