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Weird Thoughts in Great Minds
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Plato, _ Aristotle _ Socrates
Plato (d. 348 BC) believed speech and hearing were part of the mind's thought, reasoning, and development processes ----sort of its output and input. Since prelingual deaf people couldn't speak their thoughts, nor understand thoughts spoken to them, they had only primitive thoughts.
He believed that like everyone, they are born with a thinking mechanism and much basic information ("innate intelligence") that needs be developed, something not possible for them. You might imagine a born-deaf person in Plato's view to be like a new, basic computer but with a keyboard having some missing keys, and a difficult-to-read monitor.
Plato's mentor, Socrates (d. 399 BC), and Plato's student Aristotle
(d. 322 BC) , both shared this belief. Aristotle said:
"Men who are born deaf, in all cases remain speechless. They thus become senseless and incapable of reason."
(Remember the cue "SPA" :
Socrates taught Plato, and Plato taught Aristotle).
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(Fast-forward about 2000 years: we read in The Atlantic Monthly (09/1993) that the French Academy of Sciences had created a commission to determine if the reasoning of Deaf persons is accomplished in the manner as that of hearing people.)
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By the way, Plato was a radical eugenist (see The Republic, 460c). He suggested infanticide behind the backs of the parents if the child wasn't up to his physical standards. He thus must have had a very low opinion of deaf people. This is one person we wouldn't invite to dinner if we were around back then.
Likewise, Aristotle. In his Politics, he said, "let there be a law that no deformed child should be allowed to live".
Aristotle believed the only language that could be used to educate, was Greek. He considered it miles above all other languages. Anyone who couldn't speak Greek (or couldn't speak, period), was sub-human, like a barbarian, and couldn't be educated. Thus, the Deaf were beyond education. This view prevailed all the way to the middle of the 16th Century. ( We assume there's no building, statue, bust or anything at Gallaudet University honoring Aristotle ).
This shortsightedness of one of humanity's greatest minds, is very surprising. Aristotle was not only a philosopher; he was also an astronomer and wrote extensively on physics, metaphysics, biology, psychology, ethics, and politics. His work in philosophy forms the basis of modern logic.
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In his Cratylus, Plato mentions Socrates saying that it would be logical to use hand-body motions and facial expressions as Deaf people do, if speech organs did not exist. (We could have told him that ourselves).
That statement is recorded history's first mention of sign language.
He surely had a low opinion of sign, since it wasn't Greek.
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BTW again, Plato probably wasn't the original eugenist. Around 700 years earlier, Hebrew law proscribed marriage to Deaf people. They also couldn't own property, participate in many religious rituals, and such. However, the Torah proscribed their abuse:
"Thou shalt not curse the deaf...".
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Plato (d. 348 BC) believed speech and hearing were part of the mind's thought, reasoning, and development processes ----sort of its output and input. Since prelingual deaf people couldn't speak their thoughts, nor understand thoughts spoken to them, they had only primitive thoughts.
He believed that like everyone, they are born with a thinking mechanism and much basic information ("innate intelligence") that needs be developed, something not possible for them. You might imagine a born-deaf person in Plato's view to be like a new, basic computer but with a keyboard having some missing keys, and a difficult-to-read monitor.
Plato's mentor, Socrates (d. 399 BC), and Plato's student Aristotle
(d. 322 BC) , both shared this belief. Aristotle said:
"Men who are born deaf, in all cases remain speechless. They thus become senseless and incapable of reason."
(Remember the cue "SPA" :
Socrates taught Plato, and Plato taught Aristotle).
~~~~~~~~~~
(Fast-forward about 2000 years: we read in The Atlantic Monthly (09/1993) that the French Academy of Sciences had created a commission to determine if the reasoning of Deaf persons is accomplished in the manner as that of hearing people.)
~~~~~~~~~~
By the way, Plato was a radical eugenist (see The Republic, 460c). He suggested infanticide behind the backs of the parents if the child wasn't up to his physical standards. He thus must have had a very low opinion of deaf people. This is one person we wouldn't invite to dinner if we were around back then.
Likewise, Aristotle. In his Politics, he said, "let there be a law that no deformed child should be allowed to live".
Aristotle believed the only language that could be used to educate, was Greek. He considered it miles above all other languages. Anyone who couldn't speak Greek (or couldn't speak, period), was sub-human, like a barbarian, and couldn't be educated. Thus, the Deaf were beyond education. This view prevailed all the way to the middle of the 16th Century. ( We assume there's no building, statue, bust or anything at Gallaudet University honoring Aristotle ).
This shortsightedness of one of humanity's greatest minds, is very surprising. Aristotle was not only a philosopher; he was also an astronomer and wrote extensively on physics, metaphysics, biology, psychology, ethics, and politics. His work in philosophy forms the basis of modern logic.
~~~~~~~~~~
In his Cratylus, Plato mentions Socrates saying that it would be logical to use hand-body motions and facial expressions as Deaf people do, if speech organs did not exist. (We could have told him that ourselves).
That statement is recorded history's first mention of sign language.
He surely had a low opinion of sign, since it wasn't Greek.
~~~~~~~~~~
BTW again, Plato probably wasn't the original eugenist. Around 700 years earlier, Hebrew law proscribed marriage to Deaf people. They also couldn't own property, participate in many religious rituals, and such. However, the Torah proscribed their abuse:
"Thou shalt not curse the deaf...".
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The First Known Deaf Person to Prove Aristotle Wrong
The first Deaf person (as recorded by Pliny the Elder) to be formally instructed, was the Roman, Quintus Pedius, (died 43BC). He was taught the prominent discipline of painting, with the approval of Emperor Augustus (his grandfather's cousin). He was born deaf and apparently remained mute, as this likeness here (most likely speculative) shows his mouth covered. Little else is known of him, except that he had much artistic talent, but died in his teens.
He has three other honors----- Quintus Pedius is the first Deaf person in Western history with a recorded name. Likewise, the first named Deaf artist. Thirdly, his portrait here (if it's a true representation) is the first of a known Deaf person. With four "firsts" under his belt, we wonder why nothing today in the Deaf World is named after him (or maybe we aren't that well informed).
Quite recently, a phone for the deaf was developed in Italy, and named Pedius. We are unsure if this related to our Quintis, as Pedius was a popular family name in Roman times.
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He has three other honors----- Quintus Pedius is the first Deaf person in Western history with a recorded name. Likewise, the first named Deaf artist. Thirdly, his portrait here (if it's a true representation) is the first of a known Deaf person. With four "firsts" under his belt, we wonder why nothing today in the Deaf World is named after him (or maybe we aren't that well informed).
Quite recently, a phone for the deaf was developed in Italy, and named Pedius. We are unsure if this related to our Quintis, as Pedius was a popular family name in Roman times.
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And then.......
...........it took about 1,800 years for someone to go on record forcefully disputing Aristotle and the other two great philosophers. That was Girolamo Cardano
(d. 1576) --- a 16th Century physician, mathematician, inventor, notable renaissance thinker, and definitely a genius.
He believed the deaf could be educated through signs alone, and that they should and must be educated. He was not a teacher of the deaf, but was influenced by the work of a pioneer teacher of the deaf, Pablo Bonet, and possibly by another, earlier one, Rudolph Agricola .
BTW, Cardano is a most interesting fellow ---inventor of the combination lock and universal joint, and a compulsive gambler. Read his bio here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerolamo_Cardano
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(d. 1576) --- a 16th Century physician, mathematician, inventor, notable renaissance thinker, and definitely a genius.
He believed the deaf could be educated through signs alone, and that they should and must be educated. He was not a teacher of the deaf, but was influenced by the work of a pioneer teacher of the deaf, Pablo Bonet, and possibly by another, earlier one, Rudolph Agricola .
BTW, Cardano is a most interesting fellow ---inventor of the combination lock and universal joint, and a compulsive gambler. Read his bio here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerolamo_Cardano
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"The Medical Model of Deafness"
"The Dictum of the Broken Ear",
"The Deaf Mutization Argument",
"The Mechanical Ear"..................
(Actually, they all mean much the same).
"The Dictum of the Broken Ear",
"The Deaf Mutization Argument",
"The Mechanical Ear"..................
(Actually, they all mean much the same).
"Now, when I see a profoundly deaf infant, I no longer cringe at the bleak outlook that
this child faces".
( From an article by
Simon C. Parisier, MD
in a publication of
The Children's Hearing Institute-- 08/20/11 )
The So-called "Medical Model" of Deafness
This prominent otologist infers that the only hope a Deaf child has against the "bleak outlook" of growing up deaf (which makes this doctor "cringe"), is the cochlear implant. Maybe he read The New York Times comment on Deaf illiteracy down in the column opposite this one.
In the same concluding paragraph, he says:
"With conviction, I can promise the parents that [ profound deafness ]
can be overcome [ via the implant ] and their child will be able to ..... achieve
a normal and successful life..... academically and socially".
What would any hearing parents ----often dismayed, uninformed, and confused----- say to that, except "Oh thank you doctor !! Yes, yes, let's go ahead with it".
A promise that brash infers it almost certain that the child will acquire functional speech and speech discrimination via the implant. Presently, it's no way certain ---or as they say, it has no real numbers behind it yet.
Never mind all that sensationalism in the popular media. Many implants over decades will be needed to prove the doctor right or wrong. Since deafness to him is a pathology screaming for a cure, his "conviction" is no surprise.
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"Deafness is Horrible"
Here's another one for our collection, by the cochlear implant pioneer, William F. House (d. 2012). A Los Angeles Times obituary quoted him as having said, "Deafness is horrible" . We don't know how he qualified that; maybe for self-glorification, since he devoted his career to the cochlear implant. He could have been more thoughtful in his choice of words.
Reminds us of Samuel Johnson, who said, "Deafness is one of the most desperate of human calamities" (but that was in 1773).
Meet Dr. House of the "medical model", below in this column.
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In the same concluding paragraph, he says:
"With conviction, I can promise the parents that [ profound deafness ]
can be overcome [ via the implant ] and their child will be able to ..... achieve
a normal and successful life..... academically and socially".
What would any hearing parents ----often dismayed, uninformed, and confused----- say to that, except "Oh thank you doctor !! Yes, yes, let's go ahead with it".
A promise that brash infers it almost certain that the child will acquire functional speech and speech discrimination via the implant. Presently, it's no way certain ---or as they say, it has no real numbers behind it yet.
Never mind all that sensationalism in the popular media. Many implants over decades will be needed to prove the doctor right or wrong. Since deafness to him is a pathology screaming for a cure, his "conviction" is no surprise.
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"Deafness is Horrible"
Here's another one for our collection, by the cochlear implant pioneer, William F. House (d. 2012). A Los Angeles Times obituary quoted him as having said, "Deafness is horrible" . We don't know how he qualified that; maybe for self-glorification, since he devoted his career to the cochlear implant. He could have been more thoughtful in his choice of words.
Reminds us of Samuel Johnson, who said, "Deafness is one of the most desperate of human calamities" (but that was in 1773).
Meet Dr. House of the "medical model", below in this column.
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This work illustrates the focus of medicine solely upon the ear and not on the person, with an urgent need to make the ear work if it doesn't. That's the "medical model" (etc.) of deafness.
The work is by De'VIA** artist Betty G. Miller (1993, untitled). It shows the ear with all the electro-medical mishmash overwhelming the person.
**See P.7 for the term, "De'VIA art"
The DeVIA creations below illustrate the Medical Model of Deafness in a form of art known as "steampunk". (Artists unknown).
The work is by De'VIA** artist Betty G. Miller (1993, untitled). It shows the ear with all the electro-medical mishmash overwhelming the person.
**See P.7 for the term, "De'VIA art"
The DeVIA creations below illustrate the Medical Model of Deafness in a form of art known as "steampunk". (Artists unknown).
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Here's more of the "Medical Model" ..............
........this classic one by Dr. Prosper Meniere (d. 1862), discoverer of Meniere's Disease:
"The Deaf believe that they are our equals in all respects. We should be generous and not destroy that illusion. But whatever they might believe, deafness is an infirmity and we [medical people] should repair it whether the person who has it, is disturbed by it or not".
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"The Deaf believe that they are our equals in all respects. We should be generous and not destroy that illusion. But whatever they might believe, deafness is an infirmity and we [medical people] should repair it whether the person who has it, is disturbed by it or not".
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This is a creation of the Deaf artist Chuck Baird (d. 2012), called The Mechanical Ear. It expresses an aversion to implanted, stuck-in, and hung-on devices for moving Deaf people closer to the hearing world, away from their culture and community. It protests the mindset that deafness is a pathology that technology, science, and medicine are obligated to cure.
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To see samples of the work of this very notable artist, go to:
http://www.chuckbairdart.com/gallery---asl--deaf-related.html
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To see samples of the work of this very notable artist, go to:
http://www.chuckbairdart.com/gallery---asl--deaf-related.html
A classic story............
.........related to the so-called medical model was written in 1904 by the writer and futurist, H.G. Wells (d.1946).
Unknown and sealed off in a wilderness valley in Peru, is an undiscovered city of people born without eyes.
An outside explorer becomes hopelessly marooned in this city when he falls into the valley. He decides to join their society, aware of the classic statement, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".
But eyesight is totally unknown there. It is also practically worthless, since everything there (like houses without windows and facial expressions unknown) is for the blind. His sighted behavior is considered a disability, and his eyesight a disease.
Full acceptance in the society would require he be "cured" --- by surgical removal of his eyes.
"The Country of the Blind" is a highly creative and unforgettable short story.
Read all of it here:
http://www.englishreaders.org/wells_blind.pdf
.........related to the so-called medical model was written in 1904 by the writer and futurist, H.G. Wells (d.1946).
Unknown and sealed off in a wilderness valley in Peru, is an undiscovered city of people born without eyes.
An outside explorer becomes hopelessly marooned in this city when he falls into the valley. He decides to join their society, aware of the classic statement, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".
But eyesight is totally unknown there. It is also practically worthless, since everything there (like houses without windows and facial expressions unknown) is for the blind. His sighted behavior is considered a disability, and his eyesight a disease.
Full acceptance in the society would require he be "cured" --- by surgical removal of his eyes.
"The Country of the Blind" is a highly creative and unforgettable short story.
Read all of it here:
http://www.englishreaders.org/wells_blind.pdf
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Dr. Wilde (from Page 1) Will See You Now
Dr. Wilde, now knighted as Sir William Wilde, thought attempts to cure most deafness, were fool's efforts. This Dublin ear-eye specialist saw very little hope for curing acquired deafness, and none at all for congenital deafness. He believed those born deaf, were created by nature to be and stay that way.
As we might say today, "they were naturally programmed for that".
He lived in the 19th Century, in the days before the human genome, mutations, chromosomes, DNA molecules, etc. His idea of nature's programming concept was vague, but his thinking was in the ballpark. He didn't believe humans would ever be able to alter the results
-----certainly not in his time.
As we might say today, "they were naturally programmed for that".
He lived in the 19th Century, in the days before the human genome, mutations, chromosomes, DNA molecules, etc. His idea of nature's programming concept was vague, but his thinking was in the ballpark. He didn't believe humans would ever be able to alter the results
-----certainly not in his time.
Alas, poor Sir William is not famous outside of Ireland for anything medical. But he's internationally admired for the great achievement of fathering Oscar Wilde.
BTW, Oscar Wilde became completely deaf in one ear while serving a 2-year prison sentence for gay activities. He died later in 1900 from an ear infection that led to meningitis.
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BTW, Oscar Wilde became completely deaf in one ear while serving a 2-year prison sentence for gay activities. He died later in 1900 from an ear infection that led to meningitis.
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Our present day knowledge of the part played by gene mutations in congenital deafness speaks well for Dr. Wilde's belief. Almost all have been identified. A thousand possible mutations in 64 genes cause most congenital deafness. (If you need to know the naughtiest gene, responsible for up to half of all genetic deafness, its Connexin-26 or GJB2).
In the computer art image, above, the genes are the rods connecting the double helix of the human genome. Greatly simplifying, a mutation occurs when a gene is not where it is supposed to be.
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In the computer art image, above, the genes are the rods connecting the double helix of the human genome. Greatly simplifying, a mutation occurs when a gene is not where it is supposed to be.
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The "Magic Device"
A glowing article on the cochlear implant appeared in USA Today (4-10-2011), titled "Cochlear Implants Can Be the Magic Device".
It quotes the Director of the CI Center at Stanford University: "It used to be that [non-implanted deaf] people could not tell the word 'hotdog' from the word 'baseball'. Now [with implants] the focus is on music appreciation". We can do without this kind of sensationalism.
We'll bring her a dozen easy-to-find implantees who can tell "hotdog" from "baseball" only because they sound different, but they can't discriminate these words and most other words within speech. It would be helpful if she would define the "music". It should be chopsticks on a piano, not Beethoven's 5th symphony. There are implantees who can reasonably enjoy music as a result of the implant, but we've heard of very few. We know many who can sense a beat within a lot of noise, and even dance to it, but that's far from "music appreciation".
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"Fewer than 1 percent......"
"Despite all the hype, the cochlear implant is an imperfect operation of limited benefit. .... Wearers hear an imperfect version of sound, making others' voices sound like the scratchy talk of Donald Duck. Fewer than 1 percent of the 22 million Americans with hearing impairments, can benefit from the operation".
No Pity (J.C. Shapiro, Times Books, 1993)
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A glowing article on the cochlear implant appeared in USA Today (4-10-2011), titled "Cochlear Implants Can Be the Magic Device".
It quotes the Director of the CI Center at Stanford University: "It used to be that [non-implanted deaf] people could not tell the word 'hotdog' from the word 'baseball'. Now [with implants] the focus is on music appreciation". We can do without this kind of sensationalism.
We'll bring her a dozen easy-to-find implantees who can tell "hotdog" from "baseball" only because they sound different, but they can't discriminate these words and most other words within speech. It would be helpful if she would define the "music". It should be chopsticks on a piano, not Beethoven's 5th symphony. There are implantees who can reasonably enjoy music as a result of the implant, but we've heard of very few. We know many who can sense a beat within a lot of noise, and even dance to it, but that's far from "music appreciation".
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"Fewer than 1 percent......"
"Despite all the hype, the cochlear implant is an imperfect operation of limited benefit. .... Wearers hear an imperfect version of sound, making others' voices sound like the scratchy talk of Donald Duck. Fewer than 1 percent of the 22 million Americans with hearing impairments, can benefit from the operation".
No Pity (J.C. Shapiro, Times Books, 1993)
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Contemplating Getting a Cochlear Implant?
If you really want to know how the surgery gets done, step by step, in plain English, get a copy of
Rebuilt: My Journey Back to the Hearing World, by Michael Chorost ---less than $5 on Amazon.
(If you have a squeasy stomach, don't bother).
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If you really want to know how the surgery gets done, step by step, in plain English, get a copy of
Rebuilt: My Journey Back to the Hearing World, by Michael Chorost ---less than $5 on Amazon.
(If you have a squeasy stomach, don't bother).
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This is from 1993, but The Brainy Deaf Site considers it timely:
"[Oliver Sacks] said he would still have reservations about [implanting infants], before the deaf child had time to develop deaf characteristics such as sign language. "Cochlear implants are better than they were, but they are still fairly crude compared to the natural cochlear", he said. "With present imperfections, we may be forcing a rather crude object on an infant. One may argue that if it's not done in infancy, it's already too late. I'm not sure where I stand, but I'm against putting a crude device into anyone".
Globe & Mail, Toronto, 5/11/1993
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"[Oliver Sacks] said he would still have reservations about [implanting infants], before the deaf child had time to develop deaf characteristics such as sign language. "Cochlear implants are better than they were, but they are still fairly crude compared to the natural cochlear", he said. "With present imperfections, we may be forcing a rather crude object on an infant. One may argue that if it's not done in infancy, it's already too late. I'm not sure where I stand, but I'm against putting a crude device into anyone".
Globe & Mail, Toronto, 5/11/1993
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Cochlear Implant T-Shirts
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There are about forty (and still counting) different "cochlear implant shirts". Some are intelligent but many are silly (e.g.. "ASK ME ABOUT MY CHILD's COCHLEAR IMPLANT", and "YOU GOT MAGNETS?").
The one with the Superman motif says "SUPER HERO". (It would be smart to double the "I" for binaural implantees.) The second from left says
"LIVE, LOVE, HEAR". The third says "I HAVE COMPUTERS IN MY EAR".
The fourth is anti-CI, related to the fear of CIs destroying the Deaf Culture.
It says "WAR AGAINST THE CI PROPAGANDA MACHINE"
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The one with the Superman motif says "SUPER HERO". (It would be smart to double the "I" for binaural implantees.) The second from left says
"LIVE, LOVE, HEAR". The third says "I HAVE COMPUTERS IN MY EAR".
The fourth is anti-CI, related to the fear of CIs destroying the Deaf Culture.
It says "WAR AGAINST THE CI PROPAGANDA MACHINE"
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Want to See a Real Cochlea?
You've surely seen colorful drawings of the cochlea, most in two dimensions for clarity. Actually it's a 3D thing, as shown in these photographs.
(Source of 3 photos: C.G. Wright, PhD, UTSW Medical Ctr, Dallas)
You've surely seen colorful drawings of the cochlea, most in two dimensions for clarity. Actually it's a 3D thing, as shown in these photographs.
(Source of 3 photos: C.G. Wright, PhD, UTSW Medical Ctr, Dallas)
It's made of bone, grown from the skull, twisted two and half times, like a nautiloid seashell. It has three separate passageways. On the right you can see the hair cells in one, the Organ of Corti. The actual operation of the cochlea is surprisingly complex and truly remarkable. You can learn it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlea#Detailed_anatomy
http://www.avatar.com.au/courses/PPofM/hearing/hearing3.html
The diagram below shows the implant's electrode cable. Since the cochlea is no bigger than your pinky tip, you can imagine the skill required to thread the cable through the tympanic canal.
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Meet the One Who Started the Whole Show
So far, almost a million people worldwide have been cochlear-implanted, and the number grows. The cochlear implant is a French invention. The one who opened the door was Dr. Andre Djourno (d. 1996 ), a French neuro-physiologist. In 1957, he created the first device and had a surgeon implant it into a patient with acquired total deafness. To a certain extent, it worked.
So far, almost a million people worldwide have been cochlear-implanted, and the number grows. The cochlear implant is a French invention. The one who opened the door was Dr. Andre Djourno (d. 1996 ), a French neuro-physiologist. In 1957, he created the first device and had a surgeon implant it into a patient with acquired total deafness. To a certain extent, it worked.
You know that high school science experiment of activating frogs legs with electricity. Djourno was studying electrically-activated mobility in animals. Within that, he got the idea to produce sound via electricity into the cochlear. He used a very simple analog voice circuit, much like in a vintage hearing aid. But it had the basics of the current implant--- the external microphone, amplifier, battery, induction coil, and the internal coil feeding to a wire fed into the cochlear.
It was the first time in history, that a lost human sense was to some extent restored via an implanted device. After a second implant, he and the surgeon reported it to the scientific community, and the idea took off.
It was the first time in history, that a lost human sense was to some extent restored via an implanted device. After a second implant, he and the surgeon reported it to the scientific community, and the idea took off.
The activity was then picked up by Dr. Wm. F. House (d. 2012), a neuro-otologist, and others. Many advances by him followed. The top honor of dedicated development belongs to Dr. House, but contrary to what is widely believed he is not the inventor. That would be Dr. Djourno. He has an American patent to prove it.
Medical science often rewards people by naming their accomplishments after them. Some day the CI may be renamed the Djourno-House Implant.
One of the best descriptions of the invention and development of the cochlear implant can be obtained here:
https://lillypad75.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/cochlear-miracles/
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Medical science often rewards people by naming their accomplishments after them. Some day the CI may be renamed the Djourno-House Implant.
One of the best descriptions of the invention and development of the cochlear implant can be obtained here:
https://lillypad75.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/cochlear-miracles/
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Of Interest Here's a magazine introduced in 2014 by the California School for the Deaf. The name reflects the school's motto: Learn Experience Thrive. It contains poignant stories of thriving teen agers. You can download a copy (with some effort) and lots more at: http://issuu.com/csdthrive/docs/csdmagazine_360d9f5c54f2de |
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Bizarre Multicultural Ideas ??
You brainy d/Deaf people know of Dr.-Dr. Harlan Lane (at left) for his writings. (That's not a typo; he has two PhDs). He's been called "the chief theoretician of the deaf-culture movement". He has many admirers, and some detractors, one of whom we post below.
At the height of the Sound and Fury days, the excerpt below came from the respected Manhattan Institute scholar, John Leo (U.S. News & World Report, 3/25/2002 and elsewhere).
Leo is another one of those misinformed people who finds it incredible that anyone would reject the cochlear implant "that allows deaf people to hear" . (Translation: to metamorphose into hearing people and thus escape from their silent isolation and join the American hearing community). He needs to do some meaningful research on the Deaf culture and community, and the kind of "hearing" the implant provides.
Quoting John Leo:
" In his book 'The Mask of Benevolence','……….. Harlan Lane lays
out the argument that American deaf people have been oppressed and 'colonized' like third world countries taken over by European powers. There is a great deal of talk about the 'medicalization of cultural deafness' and the 'blundering audist establishment'. This kind of thinking earned him a MacArthur Foundation 'genius' award of $325,000, proving once again that if you wish to become a MacArthur version of a genius, bizarre multicultural ideas are always quite helpful".
What Mr. Leo is deriding, is covered in great depth in
Dr. Lane's classic, The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community (Knopf, 1992).
You can read all of what Mr. Leo had to say, here:
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnleo/2002/03/18/disability_activism_turns_to_identity_politics/print
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Our Deaf MacArthur Fellow
The Deaf world is most honored to have its own MacArthur Fellow, Dr. Carol Padden, a Deaf sign language linguist. Her MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant was a half million dollars. She is the first and only Deaf MacArthur Fellow, Read about it here:
http://www.macfound.org/fellows/37/
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Nobel Prize Winners Who Became Deaf When Relatively Young
http://www.macfound.org/fellows/37/
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Nobel Prize Winners Who Became Deaf When Relatively Young
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John Cornfortgh (left), British-Australian, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1975. He became deaf before entering college.
Chas. Nicolle (right, d. 1936), French, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1928 became deaf while a medical student. Quite a few d/Deaf people have made names for themselves in scientific areas. you can read about them at these two sites:
http://www.twu.edu/dsc/level_I_alphabetical.htm
http://www.twu.edu/dsc/
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Chas. Nicolle (right, d. 1936), French, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1928 became deaf while a medical student. Quite a few d/Deaf people have made names for themselves in scientific areas. you can read about them at these two sites:
http://www.twu.edu/dsc/level_I_alphabetical.htm
http://www.twu.edu/dsc/
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How Common is ASL here?
How many people (including the normal hearing) are reasonably fluent in ASL in the USA? Some decades ago, at least a half million was a common answer. Our country was 50% smaller then, so for today we’d settle today conservatively for almost a million d/Deaf and hearing together. It’s a guess, but most likely in the ballpark. (We've heard of estimates going up to two million or more).
The number of those for whom ASL is a first (or sole) language, is at between 700,000 and 900,000. Again, we are guessing.
With the above numbers under a million, ASL is at best the 8th most common known language here------after (in this order) English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Tagalog.
ASL is the fourth most studied foreign language on college campuses, after French, Spanish, and Italian, and about equal with German. Almost 100,000 students here are studying it.
All the above is our own thought. ASL isn't counted in the US Census. and nobody ever did a private count. If you want to take a brainy dive into this, go to http://research.gallaudet.edu/Publications/ASL_Users.pdf
How many people (including the normal hearing) are reasonably fluent in ASL in the USA? Some decades ago, at least a half million was a common answer. Our country was 50% smaller then, so for today we’d settle today conservatively for almost a million d/Deaf and hearing together. It’s a guess, but most likely in the ballpark. (We've heard of estimates going up to two million or more).
The number of those for whom ASL is a first (or sole) language, is at between 700,000 and 900,000. Again, we are guessing.
With the above numbers under a million, ASL is at best the 8th most common known language here------after (in this order) English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Tagalog.
ASL is the fourth most studied foreign language on college campuses, after French, Spanish, and Italian, and about equal with German. Almost 100,000 students here are studying it.
All the above is our own thought. ASL isn't counted in the US Census. and nobody ever did a private count. If you want to take a brainy dive into this, go to http://research.gallaudet.edu/Publications/ASL_Users.pdf
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And BTW, How Common is Hearing Loss?
Considering all serious levels of loss, The Otological Medical Group, of Los Angeles, says:
"Loss of hearing is America's largest, yet least recognized, physical ailment. More suffer from it than from heart disease, cancer, blindness, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, venereal
disease, and kidney diseases combined."
The largest number we've heard so far, is 50,000,000. That's right on the cover of "Shouting Won't Help", an excellent recent (2013) book by Katherine Bouton.
A couple decades ago, it was said to be 27 million. Now it's fifty million? OMG!! That surely includes older people with presbycusis plus anyone else who can communicate reasonably on the phone but only with a hearing aid ---which is plenty.
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And BTW, How Common is Hearing Loss?
Considering all serious levels of loss, The Otological Medical Group, of Los Angeles, says:
"Loss of hearing is America's largest, yet least recognized, physical ailment. More suffer from it than from heart disease, cancer, blindness, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, venereal
disease, and kidney diseases combined."
The largest number we've heard so far, is 50,000,000. That's right on the cover of "Shouting Won't Help", an excellent recent (2013) book by Katherine Bouton.
A couple decades ago, it was said to be 27 million. Now it's fifty million? OMG!! That surely includes older people with presbycusis plus anyone else who can communicate reasonably on the phone but only with a hearing aid ---which is plenty.
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On American Sign Language
"ASL is able to convey the same meanings, information, and complexities as English".
R.J. Hoffmeister in a Gallaudet U. Press publication, 1989
[ In reference to the above ] "This is pure baloney. ASL, as linguistically defined, has nowhere near the power of English for expressive or receptive purposes. ASL has its own merits, some of them outshining [English], but anywhere near as powerful as English for education, commerce, and all-around communication purposes ----it most certainly is not".
L.G.Stewart in NAD's Viewpoints on Deafness, 1992
The Brainy Deaf Site's Response---
Not with such finality, please. English has been developed and endlessly refined through multitudes of generations in every field of human activity. ASL, relatively speaking, has just started to come of age. Many signs in use aren't even cataloged yet. A library's English word dictionary can be in two massive volumes, each 7 inches thick. The thickest sign dictionary we know of, is less than 2 inches ---and signs take up much more space than words. There are, for example, extant signs for "entropy" and "unstable equilibrium" ----but have you ever seen them cataloged? (See lower in this column).
The level one can reach with ASL depends on who's doing the signing. The creativity and flair of some signers are miles above the norm. We saw such a signer forcefully say "I'll need to remember that !!" with a single complex sign. Her sign lasting one second or so, consisted of three rapid, seamless movements of one hand. Her middle finger yanked a tiny, imaginary file drawer out of her head. Her thumb and forefinger dropped in an imaginary filecard, and the heel of her hand slammed it back in. And it looked exactly like all that.
A Deaf, way-out computer nut once explained to us, via his creative ASL in thin air, in a rumbling subway train, how hexidecimal vectors map out a
computer's RAM memory. We later checked it in a textbook, through diagrams and techno-babble ----and yes, he had it correct and clear.
ASL will develop strongly as more and more Deaf people enter fields and activities they presently are sparsely involved in. We see that as the wave of the future.
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"Signers tend to improvise, to play with signs, to bring all their humor, their imaginativeness, their personality, into their signing, so that signing is not just the manipulation of symbols according to grammatical rules, but irriducibly, the voice of the signer".
Seeing Voices, Oliver Sacks (U. of California Press)
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On relative illiteracy (above), one of our readers provided the opinion below:
The Deaf Community shares some blame for Deaf illiteracy. To be sure, the Community is an important haven, capturing the majority of Deaf people right after school and for a lifetime. But it focuses on social events, sports, and entertainment. It doesn’t inspire improved or acceptable English for its members to fully function in the greater outside community. Its mindset is that with so many needs met within the Deaf Community, and ASL plus Deaf English the standard there, who needs English? The minimal members with worthy American English are often consulted for their skill
for practical ends, but are envied oddballs. I’ve been around the block and never heard of book clubs or English-improvement classes, or
English-anything, sponsored by or within that Community.
I do know of a few Deaf people who finished school without adequate English (which is quite another matter), read everything they got their hands on, and acquired fully functional American English. They did it on their own for various reasons; the Community afforded neither help nor inspiration.
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And a hearing librarian sent us this:
I have several deaf relatives and clearly see the literacy failure. You need your native language, any language, in which to be taught another language. I was taught in English to read Russian. My co-worker was
taught in Mandarin to read English. I read everywhere that ASL is a valid
teaching language. If those sordid illiteracy figures are the result, it has to be the method, not the language. I’m not involved in deaf education and might sound sophomoric with any suggestions. But I know when something is wrong, grievously wrong. How can this situation prevail decade after decade? Is there no solution?
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R.J. Hoffmeister in a Gallaudet U. Press publication, 1989
[ In reference to the above ] "This is pure baloney. ASL, as linguistically defined, has nowhere near the power of English for expressive or receptive purposes. ASL has its own merits, some of them outshining [English], but anywhere near as powerful as English for education, commerce, and all-around communication purposes ----it most certainly is not".
L.G.Stewart in NAD's Viewpoints on Deafness, 1992
The Brainy Deaf Site's Response---
Not with such finality, please. English has been developed and endlessly refined through multitudes of generations in every field of human activity. ASL, relatively speaking, has just started to come of age. Many signs in use aren't even cataloged yet. A library's English word dictionary can be in two massive volumes, each 7 inches thick. The thickest sign dictionary we know of, is less than 2 inches ---and signs take up much more space than words. There are, for example, extant signs for "entropy" and "unstable equilibrium" ----but have you ever seen them cataloged? (See lower in this column).
The level one can reach with ASL depends on who's doing the signing. The creativity and flair of some signers are miles above the norm. We saw such a signer forcefully say "I'll need to remember that !!" with a single complex sign. Her sign lasting one second or so, consisted of three rapid, seamless movements of one hand. Her middle finger yanked a tiny, imaginary file drawer out of her head. Her thumb and forefinger dropped in an imaginary filecard, and the heel of her hand slammed it back in. And it looked exactly like all that.
A Deaf, way-out computer nut once explained to us, via his creative ASL in thin air, in a rumbling subway train, how hexidecimal vectors map out a
computer's RAM memory. We later checked it in a textbook, through diagrams and techno-babble ----and yes, he had it correct and clear.
ASL will develop strongly as more and more Deaf people enter fields and activities they presently are sparsely involved in. We see that as the wave of the future.
___________________________________________________________
"Signers tend to improvise, to play with signs, to bring all their humor, their imaginativeness, their personality, into their signing, so that signing is not just the manipulation of symbols according to grammatical rules, but irriducibly, the voice of the signer".
Seeing Voices, Oliver Sacks (U. of California Press)
__________________________________________________________
On relative illiteracy (above), one of our readers provided the opinion below:
The Deaf Community shares some blame for Deaf illiteracy. To be sure, the Community is an important haven, capturing the majority of Deaf people right after school and for a lifetime. But it focuses on social events, sports, and entertainment. It doesn’t inspire improved or acceptable English for its members to fully function in the greater outside community. Its mindset is that with so many needs met within the Deaf Community, and ASL plus Deaf English the standard there, who needs English? The minimal members with worthy American English are often consulted for their skill
for practical ends, but are envied oddballs. I’ve been around the block and never heard of book clubs or English-improvement classes, or
English-anything, sponsored by or within that Community.
I do know of a few Deaf people who finished school without adequate English (which is quite another matter), read everything they got their hands on, and acquired fully functional American English. They did it on their own for various reasons; the Community afforded neither help nor inspiration.
_____________________________________________________________
And a hearing librarian sent us this:
I have several deaf relatives and clearly see the literacy failure. You need your native language, any language, in which to be taught another language. I was taught in English to read Russian. My co-worker was
taught in Mandarin to read English. I read everywhere that ASL is a valid
teaching language. If those sordid illiteracy figures are the result, it has to be the method, not the language. I’m not involved in deaf education and might sound sophomoric with any suggestions. But I know when something is wrong, grievously wrong. How can this situation prevail decade after decade? Is there no solution?
____________________________________________________________
What's the Deaf Unemployment Rate?
We've heard as high as 70% in some regions. In a national estimate not too long ago, it came to about 48%, vs. 23% for normal persons in the 18-64 age spread.
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Technical Words in ASL
We've heard as high as 70% in some regions. In a national estimate not too long ago, it came to about 48%, vs. 23% for normal persons in the 18-64 age spread.
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Technical Words in ASL
Technical words are in process of finding their way into sign language. Presently, the technical signs in one school are usually different from those in another. Attempts have been made to catalog them, but there's a long way to go (think "iso-octane", "digital video stabilization" and "trans-state sublimation" -----the list is almost endless).
Watch Lydia Callis on this: http://goo.gl/tHPCE
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Watch Lydia Callis on this: http://goo.gl/tHPCE
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On Deaf Education
In the book, Public Education in the United States (1919, Houghton Mifflin) it says, "The education of the deaf is one of the most difficult undertakings in our entire educational plan..." Note that this was a comparison to all educational plans in the United States. At that time, 1919, there were 69 state schools for the deaf and 12,000 students. Sixty-eight years later, on July 17, 1987, this appeared in The New York Times:
The average 12th grade deaf student reads
at a 4th grade level and does arithmetic.......
at a 6th grade level, Thus, most deaf students
leave school unable to read newspapers and
are grossly unprepared for our technological society.
Thirteen years later (on July 2, 2000), they printed much the same thing: "The average deaf 18 year old American cannot read above the fourth grade level".
What defines proper education here? It is what prepares the child with at least the urgent basics needed for life in our American society after completing school.
Everything written about Deaf education could fill scores of filing cabinets. And the matter still actively goes back and forth. It has its multitude of methods, but it has only one bottom line.
Here's the bottom line---------
Did the Deaf person leave school reasonably numerate, and reasonably functional in written colloquial American English (or at very least plain English) as a first or second language? It's a yes or no question, with "reasonably" defined by the standards of the hearing world (the world that everyone lives in). If not, the education has failed. We don’t have to tell you that a relatively illiterate and innumerate person has limited prospects in our society. For almost anyone with literacy and numeracy, everything else needed will eventually fall into place.
"As a people, we have no obligation of any kind
to [educational systems] that cannot meet their
obligations to children. They should face the market
test: change or fail."
Denis Doyle, Hudson Institute (Indiana)
"School is not simply about children. It is the means by which society guarantees its own future..............we talk about the child's right to read. But in our society, the child also has an obligation to read. A child does not have a right to be ignorant."
Philip Schiechty, school reform activist
"A child miseducated, is a child lost" John F. Kennedy
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We got this two-liner eMail from a reader, related to deaf education:
"Welcome to the chorus. Now get back to your little computer and enlighten us with your brainy solution."
Apparently, the reader doesn't have a "solution". Neither do we. There are a lot of people in important positions within this matter, with impressive backgrounds. We have hope and faith that they will accomplish much.
______________________________________________________________
The two letters-to-the- Editor below are from The New York Times of May, 1993.
The average 12th grade deaf student reads
at a 4th grade level and does arithmetic.......
at a 6th grade level, Thus, most deaf students
leave school unable to read newspapers and
are grossly unprepared for our technological society.
Thirteen years later (on July 2, 2000), they printed much the same thing: "The average deaf 18 year old American cannot read above the fourth grade level".
What defines proper education here? It is what prepares the child with at least the urgent basics needed for life in our American society after completing school.
Everything written about Deaf education could fill scores of filing cabinets. And the matter still actively goes back and forth. It has its multitude of methods, but it has only one bottom line.
Here's the bottom line---------
Did the Deaf person leave school reasonably numerate, and reasonably functional in written colloquial American English (or at very least plain English) as a first or second language? It's a yes or no question, with "reasonably" defined by the standards of the hearing world (the world that everyone lives in). If not, the education has failed. We don’t have to tell you that a relatively illiterate and innumerate person has limited prospects in our society. For almost anyone with literacy and numeracy, everything else needed will eventually fall into place.
"As a people, we have no obligation of any kind
to [educational systems] that cannot meet their
obligations to children. They should face the market
test: change or fail."
Denis Doyle, Hudson Institute (Indiana)
"School is not simply about children. It is the means by which society guarantees its own future..............we talk about the child's right to read. But in our society, the child also has an obligation to read. A child does not have a right to be ignorant."
Philip Schiechty, school reform activist
"A child miseducated, is a child lost" John F. Kennedy
______________________________________________________________
We got this two-liner eMail from a reader, related to deaf education:
"Welcome to the chorus. Now get back to your little computer and enlighten us with your brainy solution."
Apparently, the reader doesn't have a "solution". Neither do we. There are a lot of people in important positions within this matter, with impressive backgrounds. We have hope and faith that they will accomplish much.
______________________________________________________________
The two letters-to-the- Editor below are from The New York Times of May, 1993.
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