A Reader’s Letter to British Deaf News
I like and need to communicate in BSL and SSE. I am a cochlear implant user.
Why are so many Deaf people against Deaf people like me who use cochlear implants?
I like going to my local deaf club, but I feel I can’t go there any more because of horrible comments from deaf members. One said that I am “brainwashed”. Another said that my cochlear implant looks “disgusting”. One man wanted to know why I use BSL if I have cochlear implant and he said that I was stupid and selfish to try to have both ways. (BSL/SSE og CI). I sometimes went home and cried.
Those who slam Deaf people with cochlear implants are just as bad as people who slam D/deaf people who prefer BSL only.
How can Deaf people slam hearing people for not tolerating Deaf people and BSL if they can’t tolerate Deaf people with CI? This is hypocrisy!
Name and address withheld
BDN. March 2003
1. Find out what these ten words mean:
cochlear implant
to communicate
to use
deaf club
horrible
brainwashed
disgusting
to prefer
to tolerate
hypocrisy.
2. Here is an expression you will meet in the text:
to slam
To slam someone is a slang expression that means to criticise.
Write a story where you use this expression.
3.
BSL means British Sign Language.
SSE means Sign Supported English.
How would you translate BSL and SSE into Norwegian?
Do you vary the kind of signing you use? Why?
4.Discuss:
What had happened at the Deaf Club?
How often did it happen?
Why did this happen?
What do you think about it?
What does “D/deaf people” mean?
5. Make a play about a deaf club. A person who has just got CI comes in. What happens?
Stop the play every 5 minutes. Each actor tells the audience what they are feeling.
Change roles and repeat the performance.
7.
Write a list of six things that the Deaf Club could do to help the person with CI.