So I am flipping the channels today and I stop on MTV's 'True Life'. It is an episode about 2 people, Christopher 16, and Amanda 21, who were born deaf.
I happened to catch the show towards the end just before Chris got his cochlear implant. He was in the office with his mother doing some tests. Shortly after a few standard 'beeping' tests the therapist spoke to him, and for the first time in his life he could hear her. His mother spoke to him and, for the first time ever, he heard the sound of his own name.
He left the office hearing the sound of the wind, the cars, people walking, birds singing, leave rustling, wind chimes chiming, drums beating, and people talking.
The next day he went to school and heard his friends voices for the first time, teachers, the school bell, the lockers slamming, etc. He kept saying that (through signing and subtitles) he could hear people talking. As the show moved along it he stated that it would be a couple of years before he would be understand the language.
What??? What did he mean he had to learn to understand the language? Then it occurred me: if he had never heard the words before how was he to understand the language? It was something that I had never thought of before. When he has thoughts, how are his thoughts formed? Typically people think in their native tongue, but how does he translate his thoughts? Think about it.
I only caught about 15 minutes of the show, but it was very emotional. The look on his face when he heard his name for the first time was very moving. Yes, I cried a little. It was very cool to see this kid walk around and see his interaction as his world was changing all thanks to that implant.
Remember when all MTV showed was music videos?
2 comments:
this is greatness corina. i love the blog. i'm gonna try and read it as much as i can because i can actually hear you saying the words that are typed out in the margins.
now to the actual "comment". i've seen this episode, and i think we saw about the same length of it. the most emotional part i thought was when his girlfriend started talking to him for the first time. he was like "i just heard you say my name" (in sign language of course). i thought that was pretty cool.
-grant
Hey Grant--Thanks :) Yes, that was also a touching moment. I wish I could see a follow up on how the kid was doing now.
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