Troy Kotsur On Why Cochlear Implants Aren’t A Path For All Deaf People | Clips | Dad Saves America

0:01 one of the things that I hadn't been exposed to before this was the idea that ASL as a native language would be preferable to a cochlear implant and I remember seeing a story of parents who um didn't want to have their baby um or young child have the cochlear implant and I'm gonna be honest when I heard

0:32 this story at first I I was kind of angry why wouldn't you want your child to be able to hear and I didn't understand what what would that why would you be doing that and so um for for someone that hears that um like myself help me understand why it would it would be it's why it's complicated why it's a complicated question to use these devices and to choose not to use

1:03 the most modern technology to try to assist the hearing capability of somebody who's deaf or hard of hearing there's a lot there there's a lot of politics involved in that and so I'm here to say what I have observed in my personal opinion just to make that clear sure ASL saved my life and I am data I'm a real deaf person who grew up deaf

1:33 and I've I'm 53.75 years old and the accumulation of all my experiences out there I've seen what is best for Deaf children and what is an audiologists and doctors need to give these options and those include sign language deaf people are not broken think deaf people don't need to be fixed you know you can't fix a deaf person people are still of that old way of thinking and they think a cochlear

2:04 implant will solve a hundred percent of these communication problems and breakdowns that's the old way of thinking that needs to be pushed aside it's much more important that these kids have the right to choose their own identity and choose whether they want a cochlear implant or not because they need to find their own identities I've heard I've heard so many stories out there that Cochlear implants are not always successful it really just depends on the individual there's not a standard

2:33 for every person it depends on your level of hearing loss myself I'm completely deaf at 120 decibels in one year 90 in the other cochlear implant would not help me yeah even at 50 decibels I wouldn't be able to hear so if someone wants maybe could gain about 50 hearing maybe there would be a benefit there but it's so important that not to ignore ASL and make sure that these kids have access to that language if they want a cochlear implant make

3:00 sure you don't neglect ASL as a part of their educational plan and that way they have time to find their own identity when they grow up attention and sometimes there might be a little bit of residual hearing after surgery they'll damage any residual hearing during that surgery you can't get that hearing back and there are quite a number of risks to that cochlear implant surgery I've met several people who are half paralyzed in their face after there was a mishap in the cochlear

3:30 implant surgery I know I love playing sports and as a kid I love to play to play sports a lot of kids who have Cochlear implants cannot play sports because they get extreme headaches and sometimes you have to replace it and clean it and continue speech therapy and there's a lot of costs and emotional costs for these kids but sign language is priceless it's easy to learn it's online you can socialize with friends Cochlear implants you know there's a lot

4:01 behind it there's big business and big companies and a lot of manipulation going on of parents and so it costs a hundred thousand fifty thousand all the insurance companies support it because of the profits so they choose to ignore and marginalize ASL So today we're still fighting to make sure that there's equal access to ASL for these deaf kids so these deaf kids can have a choice and build an identity there can there should be a

4:26 marriage between Cochlear implants and ASL but there's so much controversy in Sacramento there's a book there's a program that was focused on Cochlear implants and so it's all this literature for parents about Cochlear implants in the very end in small print it says ASL and so hey ASL needs to be considered as an equal so we've had so much controversy so so far I've seen a number of states there's about 22 States who have passed this lead K law for Deaf

4:55 children to have the option to give them the right to learn ASL and so yes it's a complicated issue and an emotional issue but hey I'm deaf I'm fine why should I fix myself to fit outside the outside world and struggle doing that this is who I am and the problem is how the outside world perceives me and how many people are willing to learn our language and our culture foreign