Parents of deaf children with cochlear implants: a study of technology and community.
The cochlear implant (CI) is increasingly used to treat deafness, despite arguments from the deaf community. Deaf children born to hearing parents are the fastest growing group of CI recipients, making parents the primary consumers. Instead of focusing on the controversy over implants, this article examines the clinical structures shaping parental decision-making and how parents integrate clinical practices into family and community. Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted in a CI clinic and at various community sites. The data reveal strong inter-institutional co-operations between the clinic, the state and local school districts. Working together, these institutions anticipate parental needs, foster a CI community and thus increase compliance. I conclude that implantation is an ongoing practice enculturating parents into a new community characterised by the adoption of long-term rehabilitative duties. However, the long-term nature of rehabilitation creates disparities in outcomes, which would be better understood through further research on the social relations in families and across parent networks in the CI community.
Program in Sociology, City University of New York Graduate Center, New York 10016, USA. LMauldin@gc.cuny.edu
Laura
L
Mauldin
D000328:Adult; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery*; D003657:Decision Making; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics