Are cochlear implant users deaf?
John Lee Clark's post titled "Cochlear Implants: A Thought Experiment" hit on one topic I have given a bit of thought to myself: If you cannot hear without your CI or hearing aids, are you deaf? This may seem like a simple question, but I think outside the Deaf community, so little thought is given to deafness in general that it becomes unclear what the answer is. The way I see it is through an analogy. Suppose someone loses their legs in an accident. Now they have a wheelchair. Are they no longer physically disabled? I mean, the wheelchair gives them mobility, right? Oh, but we need to pay attention to the imperfections of the solution of the wheelchair. Much like CI and hearing aids, a wheelchair can provide great help in achieving a more mainstream life, but what about those stairs? What about those stores that place aisles too close together? What about climbing on a stepstool to reach a top shelf? ...