December 3rd, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | 3 Comments »
Me at the radio talk show with Ruth, Hilda and other guests
Last Friday, Ruth, my counterpart, took me to her weekly radio show on people with disability that she does every Friday with Hilda Bih, a Cameroonian woman with disability who was a 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow. I went there only to observe. However, Hilda pulled me in and asked me a few questions about my growing up with hearing loss, cochlear implants and accessibility for people with disabilities in the United States. Talking on the radio to the audience in Bamenda was an opportunity for me to accomplish Peace Corps’s second goal which is to help countries outside of the United States understand the American culture. I created awareness about how people with disability, especially those with hearing loss, live in the United States.
The most compelling question Hilda asked me was “Tell us what your life would have been like if you were born in Cameroon as a person with disability?” Based on my research and observation, I most definitely would not have received a cochlear implant and be able to hear and speak because even 25 years after I first received the technology in 1989, cochlear implants still do not exist in Cameroon today. Even if I could obtain hearing aids, they still would not work at all as I am totally 100% deaf without the cochlear implants. In order for hearing aids to work, one has to have residual hearing. Like almost all deaf children in Cameroon, I would have gone to a school for the deaf where I would be learning to communicate in sign language instead of going to a regular school with the same children in the neighborhood. There is a chance that my parents would have known only some basic signs at the most or not have learned sign language because most parents in Cameroon do not take the time to learn sign language due to the difficulty of mastering a knowledge of another language later in life and lack of time to learn it, as they need to spend time working and caring for the family. I would certainly face the challenge of communicating with the extended family as all would most likely not learn sign language too. My social life outside of school would have been limited as just about all children in the neighborhood would most likely not know sign language to be able to communicate with me. The level of my language skills would probably have been low, especially if my parents did not communicate in sign language at home with me, and I did not start attending the school for the deaf until past the critical language development years which is newborn until three years old. I would most likely struggle to be employed or never employed. I would most definitely be facing isolation and far more barriers in communication because 99 percent of the people surrounding me do not know sign language. I also would not be able to hear and enjoy music.
My cochlear implants have broken the barriers and opened the doors for me as I am able to communicate with ease with everyone surrounding me through hearing and speaking, has allowed me to go to the same school as other children in my neighborhood and be in the same classroom with them and without an interpreter, socialize with them outside after school and on the weekends, and most importantly, gain employment.
Hilda also asked me, “How do you and Americans view yourselves as persons with disability?” My response was that many Americans do not allow disability to define who we are. When growing up, I always saw my cochlear implant devices like as if they were glasses. They are just an accessory that allows me to hear like people who have glasses to correct their vision issues. When I was growing up, I always saw myself as a person who was just like any other human beings but just happened to be born deaf. That’s not how many Cameroonians view themselves as people with disability. Many view themselves as if they’re totally different from humans without any disability. Hilda said that when she was a child and even though she went to a mainstream school, she often wished that she would go to a special school so that she could be with other children who were “just like her.” It’s important to note that this is just a generalization and does not represent every one of the Americans and Cameroonians, especially since there are still some Americans with disability who do view themselves as totally different from other human beings.
3 Comments
Kay Kershman
December 3, 2014 at 8:39 pm
Well done. Good explanation.I was thinking that you might want to add to your talks that hearing with a new implant requires much tutoring in language, learning to listen and to speak. This was the work your therapist did once a week and your mother did every day for many years. It might be unintentionally misleading to think the implant is done and then you automatically hear.
Rachel
December 4, 2014 at 12:00 am
I agree, Grandma. I do always bring up the importance of follow up and rehabilitation when it’s appropriate it to explain it. I actually did bring it up briefly in the previous blog post, What is it like to live with a disability in Cameroon. It was not brought up in the answers here because I was focusing just on what would my life would be like without cochlear implants and the perception of people with disability. I’ve had many discussions with my counterpart and other people in the disability community about rehabilitation because when we think about projects that I do here, the projects need to be sustainable and ensure that they provide follow ups as many disabilities require therapy and trainings for many certain things.
mohamed moustapha
December 4, 2014 at 8:23 am
very interested article rachel
i m doctor from west african poor contry mauritania who acces to hearing technology is very low
my 5 year old daughter born deaf have the chance to get a cochlear implant at age two and since it we practice AVT with her now she hear and speak well. mainstreamed in regular kindergarten and socialise easely with hearing pears.
thank you.