Blog #1: Deaf By Design

The article, Deaf by design, discusses about people who identify themselves as “Deaf”, establishing their deafness as a distinctive culture from the hearing world. It also brings in the idea of “Deaf Culture” and introduces different perspectives that they hold on having deaf babies.

One issue that is addressed in the article is that some deaf parents wish to have deaf children and are using genetic tests and other biotechnologies to ensure that their babies are hearing-impaired. In fact, based on a survey conducted by Middleton, few parents would consider prenatal genetic testing for deafness and even consider abortion for a hearing child. As a result, many authorities are deciding whether genetic testing should be available for couples hoping for a deaf child.

In my opinion, I do not think that wishing to have a hearing-impaired baby is morally wrong if parents feel that being deaf will benefit the child in certain ways. However, using genetic testing to ensure that the child is deaf is unacceptable. I believe that it should be utilized only “to avoid genetic abnormality” (p 895) and hearing-impaired being one of disabilities that should be avoided. In addition, the fact that some deaf parents do consider of aborting a hearing fetus cannot be understood in any circumstances. Why would you want to abort a baby that is perfectly normal? One thing that is true is that having the ability to hear things does not bring any harms to one's life.  

Moreover, in the movie "Sound and Fury", when the parents refused to let their daughter to receive an cochlear implant, I could not understand them. The parents were afraid that after their child gets the implant, they would feel disconnected to their daughter since she would start living in the hearing world. However, I diagree with their statements. I think that by being able to hear, it will bring many benefits to her "new life" and enable her to act as a bridge between the hearing and deaf world for her parents. As a result, I feel that helping the daughter to be able to hear and experience a new world would be a wise decision for her future.