This is slightly delayed due to my illness last week, and the tennis sub sectional and sectional that caused me to miss 3 days of school. Anyway, I had a few thoughts on the Sound & Fury video we watched during class.
I thought the video was surprisingly good. For being a documentary revolving around the deaf person's decisions whether or not to get an implant, it was actually interesting. It was obvious that the struggles they were facing and the things the people in the video were dealing with were real.
The video made me wonder what I'd do if I were to ever be in that type of situation. That's definitely a tough thing to think about right now, considering it will be a long time before I have children and have to make that type of decision. Nonetheless, it could happen, and this video probably helped prepare me in case it ever does.
The parents in the video made some relevant points, such as how the children who got implants were thrust into the hearing world and no longer wanted anything to do with the deaf world. It took away the connection they had with the deaf world. You could see that with the little girl who didn't even realize she was deaf, because she had had the implant for so long and could hear and speak just like anyone else. I guess that makes sense why Heather's mother and father thought that an implant was a bad idea.
On the other hand, since Heather had already been taught sign language and knew how to effectively connect with the deaf world, it probably would have been ok for her to get an implant. Since she already knows how to speak sign language and her whole family is deaf, her parents wouldn't have to worry about her losing connection with the deaf world or not realizing that she was deaf. She might have some initial problems learning to speak since none of her immediate family can speak, but she could get by with the help of speech therapists and her speaking grandparents or other relatives. I think it would have been a good idea to get Heather the implant that she wanted. It would have given her the opportunity to fit in with both the hearing world and the deaf world, and she could have helped be a translator for her parents and her siblings when dealing with other hearing people.
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I really liked this movie, but it by the end of it I personally couldn't feel any sympathy for Peter and his wife in that movie. They really were being abusive to their child, and that's unacceptable in my eyes. However, I must agree that it was quite a thing to see this situation from the eyes of this culture.
ReplyDeleteI liked this movie a lot too, and I was also very torn about it at first. I could see where Heather's parents were coming from--I think we'd all feel a little threatened by anything that had the ability to take someone we consider a part of our "community" and place them in a completely different one. However, by the end of the film, I found myself really upset with the final decision of Peter and his wife. I know that they wanted to be sure that they didn't lose connection with their child and that their child didn't lose her connection with deaf culture, but 1) I really don't believe that they/she would have 2) in a world where the majority of people are hearing and it is obvious that they benefit from being able to hear, it seems wrong (to me) to deny someone the chance at more opportunities.
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