Michael Fahey: Update cochlear implant guidelines, but include awareness of deaf life as well

Four years ago, according to Facebook Memories, I was worried about the “Big Switch On.”

That day I was to travel to Manchester Royal Infirmary and have my Cochlear Implant activated, and find out if the gamble with what was left of my hearing had worked.

At 56 years old and profoundly deaf most of my life my attitude was “What the heck, if it works, good… if it doesn’t I haven’t lost much!”

Looking back, it was one of the biggest gambles of my life, it gave me sounds that I’ll be forever grateful I got to hear… the greatest being the buzz of a bumble bee bumbling against a window pane, something so simple but wow, so powerful to a person who is profoundly deaf!

Four years later, am I still happy with my implant?

Without a shadow of a doubt, my only regret is I could not have had it earlier.

Is it for everyone?

I wish it was easy to answer that question.

I know many who are so against the cochlear implant that even seeing the processor and magnetic coil stuck to the side of my heads causes them to explode into anger at the thought that other people believe that THEY need curing, and rightly so, but please don’t go mad at me for exercising MY rights and MY freedom of choice… it’s my life. Reverse those sentiments and I won’t go mad at you for your own choices… it’s your life too.

Who says deafness needs curing anyway, deafness can be so much a part of a person that without deafness we would lose much of the person and their personality. They would be a different person entirely, they would likely lose many of their mannerisms which have developed because of their unending quest for clarity of understanding, the way they look at you, focused, that frown of concentration which can send hearing people running, the way they cock their head and smile when they are part of the conversation, how they use their knowledge of sign to communicate with someone on the other side of the room.

The big problem is when you become a parent of Deaf/ profoundly deaf/ HOH children, then, you need to make choices for someone who is the most precious person on the planet to you, A horrible situation to most people, yet not so much to those who have experienced deafness.

Deaf parents can take that without too much stress, their experience of growing up with deafness gives them inside knowledge, deafness can be good, with other deaf people around supporting your life as a deaf child IS good. Of course there are limits, but what you never had you never miss…

Who needs the buzz of a bumble bee?

Now when hearing parents find out their child is deaf they (often) see it as a negative, something to be made right, repaired, and as quick as possible before it damages their child’s future. Fear of the unknown and love for their child pushes them forward. They are frightened of deafness, of what may happen to their child because of it, at school, at work, in their relationships. They are in a worse place than deaf parents because they are really scared. This is something many deaf people forget to take into account when they become angry about parents who decide on a cochlear implant for their child.

Normally, the first step for the hearing parents of a deaf child will be to get educated, firstly by doctors and medical practitioners involved in the discovery of their child’s deafness, which can be any time after birth depending on the family history. As many of these doctors may not be very experienced in deafness their first response will probably include a reference to the Cochlear Implant being a miracle cure and the parents should not worry.

At this point I think it would be more useful for the medical profession to introduce the parents to the Deaf community and the many successful people who have grown up living with their deafness, either embracing it as a way of life, managing it with British Sign Language, lip reading etc. or utilising technology such as STTR, computers, and smart phones.

We need to take away the fear in other words.

I can vouch for the CI being a very good thing. But they are not for everyone and they are not infallible. More research and information about living with deafness should be available to parents who are new to the condition.

By all means offer Cochlear Implants but recipients should be fully informed and aware that D/deaf lives can be lived without them, and very successfully as well.

Mike is a semi retired Fine artist working from his Home studio in Lancashire. He attended University as a mature student, gaining his BA and a Masters degree in Fine Art. He displays his work in exhibitions around the UK and abroad.  As a profoundly deaf lip reader, he is just one of a large family with a genetic history of deafness. Mike is married to Sara (who is hearing) and is father to a son Jonathan (hearing) and a daughter Katherine (deaf on one side) In October 2014 Mike underwent surgery to have a Cochlear implant fitted and is presently enjoying learning to hear again. The implant has been good for him, but, as he is constantly reminding people, he still considers himself a profoundly deaf lip reader… “The CI is really good and certain people think it’s a miracle cure for deafness but no… I still need to focus really hard on lip reading and communication in daily life… and when I take the processor off… its quite a blissful sensation, the quietness.”