A Question of Culture?

It has been a couple weeks now since Sarah Churman's cochlear implant activation video went viral and there has been a wide spectrum of reactions. For those who have not seen it please click this link.

There are number of individuals in the deaf community who object to these implants on the basis that there is nothing wrong with being deaf and therefore, there is no need for this procedure. I think it's important for the hearing world to understand that the deaf community is a culture. Much like any culture they naturally want to retain their family ties by their common language and thus, they find it difficult to accept something that would take their entire culture into question. In a way, it appears like these procedures are an attack from the hearing majority on the deaf minority. I empathize with their feeling of the importance of community. If it were not for other hard of hearing individuals and the support that I received from them and their community I would probably still feel like a bit of an outsider. However, I do feel that an important factor in a community is respecting and supporting the individuals within it. I don't think that anyone can argue that Sarah is experiencing pure joy with her ability to hear her own voice, the voice of her husband and children all for the first time. It's vitally important to respect the wishes of an individual when it comes to making any large decision because I am sure that there is never any ill-intent towards any group when these decisions are made.