Re: Brad

[Guest guest]

Thanks ,

Actually Jerome, it's not that I know something about the future of

curing his hearing loss. It's that I don't believe it needs to be

cured. This is not the appropriate forum for that discussion, so let's

not even go there.

Suffice it to say that he's getting access to 100% of the curriculum and

social content at school and can understand and be understood at home.

That's about all I can ask.

____________________________________________

Best Regards,

Brad Ingrao, M.S.Ed. CCC-A, FAAA

Editor

EDEN - The Electronic Deaf Education Network

www.bradingrao.com

e-mail: info@...

Re: Brad

In a message dated 6/4/04 1:00:41 PM, jt1@... writes:

> Now, I wonder what Brad knows that we don't know.

>

it's very clear brad knows his son!!!! having kids is hard

adopting

kids is harder adopting kids with special needs is down right tough

i have 3 bio kids and adopted 3 kids with special needs each of my

kids

pose challenges while growing up but the challenges that my kids with

special needs are far more complicated, and on going than others

throughout the years i have had to make choices that were not the norm

or

popular because i knew my child best i knew his/her past and how it

still is

apart of their lives as a mom i see the whole child ... not just

what

works and what doesn't so far it seems to be working

kids

that were once thought to have almost no real future are doing better

than

anyone could have imagined good luck to you brad

susan

[Guest guest]

I want to mention that the details of the Michigan CI case are easy to

misrepresent. The children were not in foster homes due to the hearing

loss/CI issue. They were placed in the foster home due to neglect. It was

in the time that they were in the foster home that the issue of the CI came

up. There are two school options for children in Grand Rapids, MI. There is

ee Park School Oral program and Northville that uses Sign Language. At

the time of the incidence, the children were in the Oral Program. The

children are now in the Northville School. There is a very large Deaf

population in Grand Rapids and very strong advocacy for " D " Deaf. This

incident should not have happen. As a former school teacher and foster

parent, I know that abuse by neglect is very difficult to prove and

consequent removal of children from their homes is very difficult to

accomplish. There is a lot more to this story than what got into the press,

and unfortunately the process of the CI which was started when the children

were in a hearing foster home, became the issue for the court and got the

press, and the issue was more about parental rights than the CI. The judge

ruled in favor of the parent right to refuse the elective surgery for her

children while at the same time stating that she personally felt that the

CI's would be beneficial for the children.

Cheers, Ruth

_____

From: Brad Ingrao [mailto:bingrao@...]

Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:57 AM

Subject: RE: Brad

Dixie,

<<Why do the Deaf voice an opinion in the first place about whether

someone gets a CI or not? >>

Why does a CI recipient have any more opinion about the same thing? I

hear " You'll love it, Go for it! " " Don't Wait " all the time on this

very list. I also hear the balanced flip side.

We all need to hear ALL opinions so that each individual can make their

own choice, not the choice of their friend, family, doctor, audiologist

or other CI HEAR list members.

I agree that SOME Deaf people are inappropriately anti-CI. This has

been exaggerated in the past and while it still exists, it's getting

better. I think you'll find that the current NAD position statement on

CI's is very fair and balanced. Many Schools for the Deaf that have

traditionally been ASL-only have opened their doors and hearts to kids

with CI's who didn't make it in the mainstream. My son's own school

which is a national model of Bilingual Bicultural education has hired a

CI coordinator and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and years

of time developing effective ways to educate these kids as well as

making the social and emotional environment accepting for them and their

families.

My real point was that while many Deaf people are against the CI for

themselves, I rarely hear about anyone planning an Oprah show to

encourage deaf people to learn ASL or to NOT get an implant.

As the father of a Deaf child I get asked, told, harassed and accused of

child abuse at least once a month for not implanting him. The medical

and audiologic community has determined that if one has an audiogram of

a certain shape, they NEED a CI. The respect of individual choice I see

on this list is not there in the minds of many, many people in the

hearing community. Grahaem (CI inventor) was recently quoted in

an article as saying something to the effect of not having any idea why

anyone would live the isolated world of being deaf when they can just

get a CI.

Where is HIS respect for individual choice? There's a " broken " ear, I

can fix it.

Last year, this came to a head when a court in MI almost ordered two

kids to have CI's against their parents choice. The parent is deaf and

after a CI eval (during which the CI center did not provide an

interpreter) the audiologist made a Child Protective Services report

against the mother for not following through with the surgery. The kids

were placed in foster care and were it not for the testimony of a

linguist and deaf educator from Boston University, the court would have

ruled to implant the kids against her wishes. The audiologists told the

court that without the CI, the children would not be able to learn

language and their brains would not develop. No one bothered to realize

the kids already had language but more importantly that it is the

parent's right to choose, not the audiologists.

My point was to simply remind everyone that the prejudice and

insensitivity goes BOTH ways, and that the only way we can move beyond

it is for BOTH groups to feel free to express their feelings without

anyone deciding who should or should not has the right to have or

express their own INDIVIDUAL opinion.

I spent the Memorial Day weekend playing in 3 parades with a local

American Legion Band. Those men and women died for all of to have the

right to express our feelings and have discussions like this. When we

start making rules about who can and cannot say what about subjects, we

dishonor them and degrade our society.

____________________________________________

Best Regards,

Brad Ingrao, M.S.Ed. CCC-A, FAAA

Editor

EDEN - The Electronic Deaf Education Network

www.bradingrao.com

e-mail: info@...

Brad

Brad,

This isn't hard to answer at all. Why do the Deaf voice an opinion in

the first place about whether someone gets a CI or not? I have never

seen it as anyone's business to comment on a surgery to help restore a

sense, etc. Do we voice an opinion on someone who has eye surgery to

help restore their vision? How about surgery of the nose to help people

to once again restore their ability to smell or taste?

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way, but shouldn't everyone be happy

for the person who can and is able to hear again through cochlear

implant surgery...especially if that is what the person wants and hopes

for?

As I mentioned earlier, CI is not for everyone. Again, that is their

choice unless it's medically or financially unavailable to them or they

just choose to be Deaf. But why throw rocks at those who wish

to hear?

You Wrote:But I also see a lot

of very subtle, and probably unintentional criticism of those who choose

not to hear in those celebrations.

Why can't everyone just feel free to express their own opinion and be

secure enough in them that a differing opinion is seen as just that.

Brad, it doesn't get to be a differing opinion. I think you know and

see that as well as everyone else. It ends up being a judgement.

Read what Sharon wrote on a fellow employee and what wrote

regarding Chauncey's friends. This is what I can't understand, someone

gains hearing and the Deaf community is up in arms, judging, snubbing,

voicing an opinion, etc. Hearing community is not voicing an opinion on

Deaf culture. It's the other eay around.

Dixie

[Guest guest]

And I am sorry that you feel you need to apologize on my behalf. It

tells me a lot about how you wish to " control " this forum and what

types of posts you prefer to see. I suspect you won't have to put up

with my posts as much in the future. Too bad.

Bob

> >>

> >> Brad,

> >> If your here to get help with your RA, then fine. We (I'd) be glad to

> >> offer whatever experience or hope I might be able to share. Posts

> >> like this in my opinion are just to incite debate and controversy.

> >> You throw a post like this here to stir things up then step back and

> >> enjoy the turmoil you cause. If I have to continue to wade through

> >> posts as a result of this sort of " trolling " , I for one will find

> >> another forum. Take your debates elsewhere please. Not interested

> >> and you're managing to do is raise my pain level.

> >> Hopefully our moderator sees through you motives.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Brad,

Hang on in there. It's all trial and error, what works for one doesn't for

another.

Make sure your bloods are tested at least monthly, although when on a med for

the first time, bloods should be done weekly for about a month.

 

This is your disease, so make informed choices, ask questions and most of all

listen to your body. It can be overwhelming at first, but once you read up on

what's available and take comfort from other people's success stories, then your

journey begins.

 

I hope you have a pleasant journey, with not too many pit stops and get started

soon on a drug regime that helps you.

 

Best wishes

x

> Thanks Barbara,

> I was recently diagnosed with RA. I have been through 3 NSAIDs so

> far with no luck, and Pred which doesn't seem to touch me at all.

> Had steroid shots in my hands which did help some. I have my second

> visit in 2 weeks and hope to get on something that will help. The

> pain and stiffness is driving me crazy. Anyone using Voltaren gel on

> their hands? I am and don't see any effect from it.

>

> Brad