- Does sensory difference dis-able individuals?
- What does it mean to 'solve' sensory difference?
- How does the history of hearing difference in the West shape current debates around D/deafness and the cochlear implant?
- What role have commercial and professional interests played in shaping responses to hearing aids and cochlear implants?
D/deaf Activism
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, multiple teams of scientists and engineers were tackling the 'problem' of D/deafness; by the 1970s, clinical trials with early implantable devices were underweigh. Their efforts would lay the foundations for the cochlear implants of today, devices which are acclaimed as solutions -- even miraculous ones -- to both congenital and acquired deafness. But these were not the first 'miracles' intended to aid those born without hearing, those who experience total hearing loss, and the broader group who become hard-of-hearing. This is unsurprising, given that Aristotle drew attention to the socially disabling effects of congenital deafness before 300 BCE, while even today, over half of all people who live past the age of 55 will experience hearing loss. So when and why have sensory differences in hearing become pathologocal or dis-abling; how have 'cures' for hearing difference become controversial; and for whom?
Seminar Questions: