Philosophy about
Many times, these people offer
information that is absolutely precious. I had my first
‘revelation’ from an audiologist who helped me
to realize that I wasn’t hearing the same as hearing
people did, and that other deaf people experienced what I
did. He also told me to wear a hearing aid. The first
part of what I learned from him was absolutely a turning
point for me. The second part—which I swallowed
without much reflection—was expensive and
didn’t help me at all in the way he intended.I didn’t want a cochlear
implant, but I have always respected the individual right to make an
informed decision to have one. I am happy to discuss
CI’s if I am not constantly assaulted with sales
pitches and criticism for my position. A couple of the
implantees on a cochlear implant panel I attended seemed
to feel personally responsible to proselytize for
implantation and for some reason also to apologize for
the unsuccessful cases. I had to ask : “How can we
share information about CI’s without the pressure
and sales pitch?” This sparked some interesting
responses, and—I was glad to see—a bit of
self-examination by the pro-implantation panelists. But
immediately afterward, in the buffet line, another
implantee accosted me and said, “You made a very
good point and I understand what you are saying, but I
think you would be an excellent candidate for an implant.
You really should consider one.” You can make a
person hear, it seems, but you can’t make them
listen. Some groups use the term self-help
to mean peer-advising. Maybe that’s where my
thick-skulled friend (above) learned his self-help
techniques. My philosophy is that self-help does not mean
that more-experienced but similarly ‘afflicted’
(as they invariably view themselves) people will tell you
what you should do instead of doctors and other
professionals telling you what to do. Self-help is about
saying how you feel and cope with aspects of your deaf
life and hearing how other people feel and cope. Just
because you’re the only person who can know what is
best for you doesn’t mean you are alone. When you
listen to what people say, and think about how similar
and different their life is to yours, you can pick and
choose new things to try, or new ways to think about your
own feelings.And we each help ourselves, in our
own way, as and when we are ready.
Related articles:
Help Sweet Help—Self help: The tale of a dissatisfied visitor to this Page.
More on the CI topic
