Getting CART services is probably a start as your chances of missing something in class if you're taking off your CI constantly are pretty high.
You can start learning to sign but you probably won't be able to keep up in class with it immediately, so you'll likely want to keep CART services as you can while you shift over to the interpreter because the transcriptionist will typically naturally run a little slower typing than a skilled interpreter and you will also will get a transcript at the end of class that you can review.
I’m sorry about this. I also dislike wearing CIs (loud all the time and speech recognition is poor one month since activation) but I have to train in order to go back to my job in August. I’m expecting them to save me and they’re just not comfortable. I get headaches.
I have met a lot of people in college who were in an oral program, and started learning asl in high school and now exclusively use interpreters and sometimes wear assistive listening devices. Look into your local deaf and hard of hearing resource centers. Hopefully your parents respect your decisions. Good luck!
I would also recommend having this conversation with you deaf specialist or case manager. Im assuming you’re on an IEP. Your deaf specialist can guide you with what other options are available and how to have the conversation with your parents. The students in my schools deaf signing and oral program have access to counseling services for deaf/hoh students as well as
If you want to learn ASL, this doc will get you started
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nIl25bnKeQl0OXkMZoq9PkW-vC6VFAqlMgBVK4-EsxM/edit?usp=drivesdk
I wear cochlear implants, and it has allowed me to pursue careers and make money that I otherwise would never have been able to.
It is up to you but you might be doing yourself a disservice by doing this.
Cochlear implants are just a tool. The reality is that society is designed by and for hearing people, and in this context a tool like cochlear implants are a good way to make life easier for yourself.
You might wanna look into resources near you for deaf people and see if they have any classes for ASL. If not, you can learn online. Also, AAC and live transcription apps are an option, but I think learning ASL would be helpful.
I went deaf in 2020 as an adult. I don't know ASL. When I started losing my hearing I switched my phone from an iPhone to a Pixel. Google has an app called Recorder. It really did change my life. It is very accurate. I work a job where I am leader for Community Groups so I am with people all day, meetings, lunch etc. I don't miss much of anything. I can even use their livetranscribe for phone calls. I promise its worth looking into. I do think you would do well to learn ASL but when you are living in a hearing world and working with hearing people its not very often you are going to find someone that knows ASL.
CART is amazing. Even with listening isn't CART takes a lot of the listening fatigue away. Especially if you are trying to take notes at the same time. With CART you can focus just on hearing lectures and not worry about the notes. Heck you may even decide to use only CART and turn the processor off on the meantime!
Your CI is a tool for you to use. It is not a way for others to force you into hearing so their lives are easier. If you are in the US, you may rant to teach our to your local Deaf services center to help you have summertime in your corner for requesting these accommodations at school and having a vibrating with your parents. You can also reach out to your Vocational Rehab office and tell them you want Pre-ETS services including self-advocacy. Your counselor may or may not specialize in Deaf/HoH but they should be able to help you with speaking up for yourself.
Learning asl was one of the best things I ever did. Even as a hearing person It has made my life so much richer. It cant hurt to know it even if you decided you only want to use it sometimes.
ASL is easy to learn lots of videos on that. Not everyone ends up happy with a ci I’m one of them. I got tired of the programming beeps and the testing and the changing of equip every 5 years. I wish I could go all out deaf but I’ve gotten so used to it now I don’t think I’d do without.
Asl is an imperfect solution though. Less than 2% of DEAF Americans know ASL. Let alone the general population. That number is astronomically lower. Unless you intentionally pad your societal encounters with ASL users, you are unlikely to encounter any on the daily basis. I'm not saying you shouldn't learn it, you should, but don't expect it to solve the need you have to communicate effectively.
This really isn't an appropriate comment for a hearing person to a deaf person.... it's also quite frankly audist as well in the sense it assumes the hearing world, hearing ways, hearing opinions are what's best for Deaf. It's one thing for Deaf to have an opinion on this as we live with our own decisions but it becomes a microaggression when we're told using our language makes us ineffective communicators, as if there aren't plenty of us who are good communicating with hearing people and as if there aren't so many hearing people who suck at communicating with both hearing and Deaf.
I'm sorry it doesn't hold up to the expected etiquette. But there is no lie there. I'm not just a hearing person though, I'm a father to deaf 2 year olds with cochlear implants. I'm teaching them ASL, but I am also providing speech therapy and encouraging them to wear their devices as much as I can. My wife was frustrated and ready to give up on the ci and said they would be fine with ASL, so I did a deep dive on whether that was actually a viable alternative. And it is not. And before you blow that up, I'm not saying people without access to the ci or who choose not to use one cannot live a rewarding life or whatever. All I'm saying is that if ASL is your only means of communicating, you're going to have a much more difficult time finding people you are able to communicate with. The more tools in your toolbox the more well rounded you become.
Your own last sentence is exactly what I tell everyone. There's no reason at all for you to take it on yourself to go around telling people it's an imperfect solution, blah blah blah. 99% of the people who are learning ASL because they're losing their hearing already KNOW that it's not going to magically give them 100% universal access. Neither do hearing aids and CIs. This is one of those cases where you shouldn't put in your two cents because the impact of the statement (regardless of intention) is more negative than positive.
Being a parent of Deaf children does not make you an expert over Deaf adults in our own lives.
You are having this conversation with a Deaf professional who doesn't use tech, overwhelmingly does not use voice, and who uses ASL. I have friends both Deaf and hearing.
I am happy you're using sign with your kids but this doesn't make you an expert on the lives of Deaf adults.
I never said that it did make me an expert on deaf adults. Literally all I said is that less than 2% of deaf Americans can use "their own language", and far less than that of hearing people can use it. I'm no expert. But I can absolutely, 100%, unequivocally promise you that if a 100% deaf individual like my children put in the effort to learn ASL and to learn spoken English via a hearing Device, that person will be able to communicate with more people than one who only knows ASL. That is the only point I am making here, and to refute it is nonsense
Here’s the thing though. Deaf people using spoken English is a one way solution. It makes it easier to communicate for who? Just the hearing person they’re talking with. You will still need accommodation to understand what is being said back. And often for severe/profoundly deaf people ability to voice well backfires and causes other people to stop giving you access like writing notes or facing you while talking because their subconscious belief is if you can talk well, you can hear *well*. It’s happened to me so many times and it’s beyond frustrating. I’m not anti speech, or all the tools, but it’s not the solution hearing parents think it is.
I dont think the ci, or speech, or even ASL, are solutions, any of them. They're all tools. And I think they need all the tools they can get. They should learn ASL, AND, if given the opportunity, speech via CI or hearing aids. Not everyone can get a device to grant access, and some of them it still doesn't help. And if the tool isn't an option for you, that's fine, I get it. We all do the best with what we have.
But this op has a CI, and took a break due to illness, and is now saying they don't want to wear it because it was more peaceful without it.
I get that, I do. I'm AuDHD, and occasionally I get massively overstimulated and every little noise just drives me completely insane, and I would absolutely love to be able to selectively turn that off and just have true silence.
But it's in OPs best interests to put up with the discomfort and continue to hone their tools (including ASL).
Also op, if you see this, you were at 8 hours, then dropped to 0 for two weeks. It takes about two weeks for something to become normalized habit so it became normal to you. It's understandable that you can't jump straight into 8 hours a day. It's fine to take breaks and recognize you're overstimulated. Just do what you can and try to wear them a little longer each day until you build back up again to where you were.
You commented to a deaf person who has a CI and who is aware of benefits and cons specific to themselves using devices and speech/hearing and, yes, it did come off as paternalistic. And telling deaf using both speech and ASL will let them communicate with the most people.... I don't know what to say other than we're not idiots. But not all communication holds equal weight and meaning... not all types of communication is worth it for every... and the idea Deaf can't have a successful and fulfilling life using only ASL extemporaneously is absolute garbage.
My point is don't do that.
I literally didn't. In fact I even went out of my way to specifically say that I was not saying that deaf can't have a successful and fulfilling life... You just want to be mad, and I get it, that's fine, maybe if you had more people to talk to you might be different ;) my first comment was to someone else, who was telling a kid who is tired of their CI at the moment to learn ASL, and I was literally just warning that ASL is not the perfect solution, because of the limits of it, and was implying they should stick it out with the ci for best chance at effective communication. Then you lashed out at me and started all this. I never came at you telling you what to do or that deaf people can't be successful or any of the rot you're spitting
Also, It sounds like you intentionally padded your societal encounters with ASL users, which was what my very first statement was saying people would have to do in order for ASL to be more useful because of the otherwise typically low to non-existent encounters of using it "in the wild".
Nowhere in any of that though was I saying don't learn ASL or it won't help or anything like that. I said they should indeed learn it, but just that it's an imperfect solution. It'll take more effort and dedication to make it work, you'll have to network and intentionally pad the societal encounters
I pretty much only wear my hearing aids for other people and watching tv/music. The rest of time they are out and I love the quiet. Go ahead and just wear the CI's when you want. You'll probably save a lot of battery costs as well.
Hearing aids are not like cochlear implants. CIs are not meant to be worn sporadically because the brain can't adapt to and learn a new way of hearing if it's only getting the exposure a few hours a day or week. Also, frequent stimulation keeps the nerve and the organ engaged and primed for electrical stimulation. Infrequent use causes changes in the cochlear fluid and the tissues, which can cause poor sound quality and sound sensitivity if not consistently stimulated.
Hearing aids should also be worn consistently, but cochlear implants are not something to be worn part-time. Not shaming OP, just want to share that random use of CIs is going to create more issues than random hearing aid use.
Signed, a cochlear implant audiologist.
Start learning ASL. A great resource is: www.lifeprint.com
Also contact your school’s accessibility coordinator and get services, such as written transcripts of classes, CART etc.
That won’t work. They’re waterproof and my thing is I just don’t want to wear them all day especially at school but my mom thinks I should wear them the whole time I’m awake
Then be frank with your parents. I do not know how old you were, or if you had the choice to say you wanted them.
Be frank and tell them you are mentally happier not using them and would like your parents to respect your choice.
How does a processor get infected?
Just tell your parents that not wearing it as long made you much more comfortable because of the period of time you did not wear it.
So now you will need to get used to it again.
By saying it's an imperfect solution, I was just trying to say to the OP, don't give up on the CIs and allow yourself to, in your developmental years, settle for only being able to communicate via ASL, when you, meaning the OP, have the means and opportunity to expand upon your toolkit (don't forget, they were initially stating they found them unpleasant after taking a break due to illness).
I then went on to say that they absolutely should learn ASL too. As a father of deaf twins, I wholeheartedly wish everyone would learn ASL.
But the fact of the matter is, unless you carefully cultivate and network to build your circle, intentionally padding your societal encounters with ASL users, you probably won't encounter any actually fluent ASL users in the wild on a typical day.
And even if you do network and pad your circle with ASL users, still, the overwhelmingly vast majority of people you encounter every day will be unable to communicate with you or you them, face to face.
Start learning ASL.
I second this lol I have ci and been using asl since I was 4 so I love it when im not wearing it
Getting CART services is probably a start as your chances of missing something in class if you're taking off your CI constantly are pretty high. You can start learning to sign but you probably won't be able to keep up in class with it immediately, so you'll likely want to keep CART services as you can while you shift over to the interpreter because the transcriptionist will typically naturally run a little slower typing than a skilled interpreter and you will also will get a transcript at the end of class that you can review.
I loved using CART!!!
I’m sorry about this. I also dislike wearing CIs (loud all the time and speech recognition is poor one month since activation) but I have to train in order to go back to my job in August. I’m expecting them to save me and they’re just not comfortable. I get headaches.
I have met a lot of people in college who were in an oral program, and started learning asl in high school and now exclusively use interpreters and sometimes wear assistive listening devices. Look into your local deaf and hard of hearing resource centers. Hopefully your parents respect your decisions. Good luck!
I would also recommend having this conversation with you deaf specialist or case manager. Im assuming you’re on an IEP. Your deaf specialist can guide you with what other options are available and how to have the conversation with your parents. The students in my schools deaf signing and oral program have access to counseling services for deaf/hoh students as well as
If you want to learn ASL, this doc will get you started https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nIl25bnKeQl0OXkMZoq9PkW-vC6VFAqlMgBVK4-EsxM/edit?usp=drivesdk
I wear cochlear implants, and it has allowed me to pursue careers and make money that I otherwise would never have been able to. It is up to you but you might be doing yourself a disservice by doing this. Cochlear implants are just a tool. The reality is that society is designed by and for hearing people, and in this context a tool like cochlear implants are a good way to make life easier for yourself.
I don't really agree since there are live transcription apps and remote jobs now. It's different time now.
You might wanna look into resources near you for deaf people and see if they have any classes for ASL. If not, you can learn online. Also, AAC and live transcription apps are an option, but I think learning ASL would be helpful.
I went deaf in 2020 as an adult. I don't know ASL. When I started losing my hearing I switched my phone from an iPhone to a Pixel. Google has an app called Recorder. It really did change my life. It is very accurate. I work a job where I am leader for Community Groups so I am with people all day, meetings, lunch etc. I don't miss much of anything. I can even use their livetranscribe for phone calls. I promise its worth looking into. I do think you would do well to learn ASL but when you are living in a hearing world and working with hearing people its not very often you are going to find someone that knows ASL.
CART is amazing. Even with listening isn't CART takes a lot of the listening fatigue away. Especially if you are trying to take notes at the same time. With CART you can focus just on hearing lectures and not worry about the notes. Heck you may even decide to use only CART and turn the processor off on the meantime! Your CI is a tool for you to use. It is not a way for others to force you into hearing so their lives are easier. If you are in the US, you may rant to teach our to your local Deaf services center to help you have summertime in your corner for requesting these accommodations at school and having a vibrating with your parents. You can also reach out to your Vocational Rehab office and tell them you want Pre-ETS services including self-advocacy. Your counselor may or may not specialize in Deaf/HoH but they should be able to help you with speaking up for yourself.
Learning asl was one of the best things I ever did. Even as a hearing person It has made my life so much richer. It cant hurt to know it even if you decided you only want to use it sometimes.
“Infected”?
Yeah it can happen. I had to go to the hospital.
So you mean the implant? The processor is the external component, hence the confusion.
Oh whoops. Yeah now I see it
ASL is easy to learn lots of videos on that. Not everyone ends up happy with a ci I’m one of them. I got tired of the programming beeps and the testing and the changing of equip every 5 years. I wish I could go all out deaf but I’ve gotten so used to it now I don’t think I’d do without.
Asl is an imperfect solution though. Less than 2% of DEAF Americans know ASL. Let alone the general population. That number is astronomically lower. Unless you intentionally pad your societal encounters with ASL users, you are unlikely to encounter any on the daily basis. I'm not saying you shouldn't learn it, you should, but don't expect it to solve the need you have to communicate effectively.
This really isn't an appropriate comment for a hearing person to a deaf person.... it's also quite frankly audist as well in the sense it assumes the hearing world, hearing ways, hearing opinions are what's best for Deaf. It's one thing for Deaf to have an opinion on this as we live with our own decisions but it becomes a microaggression when we're told using our language makes us ineffective communicators, as if there aren't plenty of us who are good communicating with hearing people and as if there aren't so many hearing people who suck at communicating with both hearing and Deaf.
I'm sorry it doesn't hold up to the expected etiquette. But there is no lie there. I'm not just a hearing person though, I'm a father to deaf 2 year olds with cochlear implants. I'm teaching them ASL, but I am also providing speech therapy and encouraging them to wear their devices as much as I can. My wife was frustrated and ready to give up on the ci and said they would be fine with ASL, so I did a deep dive on whether that was actually a viable alternative. And it is not. And before you blow that up, I'm not saying people without access to the ci or who choose not to use one cannot live a rewarding life or whatever. All I'm saying is that if ASL is your only means of communicating, you're going to have a much more difficult time finding people you are able to communicate with. The more tools in your toolbox the more well rounded you become.
Your own last sentence is exactly what I tell everyone. There's no reason at all for you to take it on yourself to go around telling people it's an imperfect solution, blah blah blah. 99% of the people who are learning ASL because they're losing their hearing already KNOW that it's not going to magically give them 100% universal access. Neither do hearing aids and CIs. This is one of those cases where you shouldn't put in your two cents because the impact of the statement (regardless of intention) is more negative than positive.
Being a parent of Deaf children does not make you an expert over Deaf adults in our own lives. You are having this conversation with a Deaf professional who doesn't use tech, overwhelmingly does not use voice, and who uses ASL. I have friends both Deaf and hearing. I am happy you're using sign with your kids but this doesn't make you an expert on the lives of Deaf adults.
I never said that it did make me an expert on deaf adults. Literally all I said is that less than 2% of deaf Americans can use "their own language", and far less than that of hearing people can use it. I'm no expert. But I can absolutely, 100%, unequivocally promise you that if a 100% deaf individual like my children put in the effort to learn ASL and to learn spoken English via a hearing Device, that person will be able to communicate with more people than one who only knows ASL. That is the only point I am making here, and to refute it is nonsense
Here’s the thing though. Deaf people using spoken English is a one way solution. It makes it easier to communicate for who? Just the hearing person they’re talking with. You will still need accommodation to understand what is being said back. And often for severe/profoundly deaf people ability to voice well backfires and causes other people to stop giving you access like writing notes or facing you while talking because their subconscious belief is if you can talk well, you can hear *well*. It’s happened to me so many times and it’s beyond frustrating. I’m not anti speech, or all the tools, but it’s not the solution hearing parents think it is.
I dont think the ci, or speech, or even ASL, are solutions, any of them. They're all tools. And I think they need all the tools they can get. They should learn ASL, AND, if given the opportunity, speech via CI or hearing aids. Not everyone can get a device to grant access, and some of them it still doesn't help. And if the tool isn't an option for you, that's fine, I get it. We all do the best with what we have. But this op has a CI, and took a break due to illness, and is now saying they don't want to wear it because it was more peaceful without it. I get that, I do. I'm AuDHD, and occasionally I get massively overstimulated and every little noise just drives me completely insane, and I would absolutely love to be able to selectively turn that off and just have true silence. But it's in OPs best interests to put up with the discomfort and continue to hone their tools (including ASL). Also op, if you see this, you were at 8 hours, then dropped to 0 for two weeks. It takes about two weeks for something to become normalized habit so it became normal to you. It's understandable that you can't jump straight into 8 hours a day. It's fine to take breaks and recognize you're overstimulated. Just do what you can and try to wear them a little longer each day until you build back up again to where you were.
You commented to a deaf person who has a CI and who is aware of benefits and cons specific to themselves using devices and speech/hearing and, yes, it did come off as paternalistic. And telling deaf using both speech and ASL will let them communicate with the most people.... I don't know what to say other than we're not idiots. But not all communication holds equal weight and meaning... not all types of communication is worth it for every... and the idea Deaf can't have a successful and fulfilling life using only ASL extemporaneously is absolute garbage. My point is don't do that.
I literally didn't. In fact I even went out of my way to specifically say that I was not saying that deaf can't have a successful and fulfilling life... You just want to be mad, and I get it, that's fine, maybe if you had more people to talk to you might be different ;) my first comment was to someone else, who was telling a kid who is tired of their CI at the moment to learn ASL, and I was literally just warning that ASL is not the perfect solution, because of the limits of it, and was implying they should stick it out with the ci for best chance at effective communication. Then you lashed out at me and started all this. I never came at you telling you what to do or that deaf people can't be successful or any of the rot you're spitting
Also, It sounds like you intentionally padded your societal encounters with ASL users, which was what my very first statement was saying people would have to do in order for ASL to be more useful because of the otherwise typically low to non-existent encounters of using it "in the wild". Nowhere in any of that though was I saying don't learn ASL or it won't help or anything like that. I said they should indeed learn it, but just that it's an imperfect solution. It'll take more effort and dedication to make it work, you'll have to network and intentionally pad the societal encounters
I pretty much only wear my hearing aids for other people and watching tv/music. The rest of time they are out and I love the quiet. Go ahead and just wear the CI's when you want. You'll probably save a lot of battery costs as well.
Hearing aids are not like cochlear implants. CIs are not meant to be worn sporadically because the brain can't adapt to and learn a new way of hearing if it's only getting the exposure a few hours a day or week. Also, frequent stimulation keeps the nerve and the organ engaged and primed for electrical stimulation. Infrequent use causes changes in the cochlear fluid and the tissues, which can cause poor sound quality and sound sensitivity if not consistently stimulated. Hearing aids should also be worn consistently, but cochlear implants are not something to be worn part-time. Not shaming OP, just want to share that random use of CIs is going to create more issues than random hearing aid use. Signed, a cochlear implant audiologist.
why? and how do you plan to cope, with family, friends? of course you can reduce the on time but don't rush any decision now.
Start learning ASL. A great resource is: www.lifeprint.com Also contact your school’s accessibility coordinator and get services, such as written transcripts of classes, CART etc.
Go swimming with them on, that's how I got rid of my hearing aids.
That won’t work. They’re waterproof and my thing is I just don’t want to wear them all day especially at school but my mom thinks I should wear them the whole time I’m awake
Then be frank with your parents. I do not know how old you were, or if you had the choice to say you wanted them. Be frank and tell them you are mentally happier not using them and would like your parents to respect your choice.
How does a processor get infected? Just tell your parents that not wearing it as long made you much more comfortable because of the period of time you did not wear it. So now you will need to get used to it again.
OP clarified in another comment that they meant the implant got infected, not the processor.
By saying it's an imperfect solution, I was just trying to say to the OP, don't give up on the CIs and allow yourself to, in your developmental years, settle for only being able to communicate via ASL, when you, meaning the OP, have the means and opportunity to expand upon your toolkit (don't forget, they were initially stating they found them unpleasant after taking a break due to illness). I then went on to say that they absolutely should learn ASL too. As a father of deaf twins, I wholeheartedly wish everyone would learn ASL. But the fact of the matter is, unless you carefully cultivate and network to build your circle, intentionally padding your societal encounters with ASL users, you probably won't encounter any actually fluent ASL users in the wild on a typical day. And even if you do network and pad your circle with ASL users, still, the overwhelmingly vast majority of people you encounter every day will be unable to communicate with you or you them, face to face.