Comments on: Cochlear implants in SickO the movie! (ASL VLOG)

By: lmarie berk

lmarie berk — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:04:56 +0000

Wow…
Sooo many uninformed comments here. Choosing a cochlear implant is FAR from being convinient or the EASY WAY OUT. Have any idea what it costs? How much auditory verbal therapy is required post surgically? It is costly, time consuming, and takes absolute dedication from the parents! ASL is easy to learn. Too bad it is not easily understood by the MAJORITY of the world. Try going to a bank and applying for a loan. Forget that, just try and see if the teller can help you cash your check. Face it. We live in a HEARING world. Unfortunate that this technology was not around for all the capital D deaf to get a chance at many years ago, but it is the way of the future. Want to know why so many parents DONT want to send kids to deaf schools and communicate only with ASL? Just read the letters contributed to this thread, composed by deaf writers. Then, read their letters and find the writing errors. They are many. ASL does not translate to english well, and it shows. Just like it would show on an application for employment! Having the ability to hear and speak enables one to also read much better. The truth hurts. And I know, because I have a deaf child.

By: Dixie

Dixie — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:35:44 +0000

Jon,
I was thinking the same thing when I read the article myself – these parents obviously did not do their research and thought that CIs were the ONLY venue for them. Deafness itself is not a horrible disability that hinders one from leading a productive life – you, yourself Jon are proof of that. I think parents did what they thought was conveinient for them – it did not mention anything about ASL in that article anywhere. I was disappointed with th article.

By: Sonja Hawn

Sonja Hawn — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:27:20 +0000

Hello there. I am the 37 year old sister of Annette Noe. I have nothing but respect for you and the deaf community. Both Annette and her older brother are deaf and have had the implants. My father and his wife’s decision to have the implants for thier children is in no way a slap in the face to the deaf community and should not be taken as such. They did what they felt was best for their children. We all, as parents, have that right, to act in the best interest of our children. If there is technology out there to help make life easier for us, why not take advantage of it?! Deafness is not a terrible, horrible disability and people who are deaf can have a very functional life, as it seems that you do. But my father should not be criticized for trying to make life better/easier for his children. Best of luck to you.

By: Mish

Mish — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:16:19 +0000

The poster above, Laura Lopez, pretty much said it all. The family and the cochlear implant situation is just one of many examples presented in the documentary of how the insurance system work here in US, that’s it. This movie, in whole, is very interesting and makes you think. Yes, Michael Moore likes to emotionally shock people but that point of the SICKO is for you to stop and think about how the insurance system operates. In my opinion, I agree with most points of the movie just because I work in the medical field and have seen myself how insurance companies screw hard working people. I fight with the insurance companies to GET the claims PAID. You will not believe how many insurance companies deny the claims for the most ridiculous reasons….we appeal and appeal to get them paid. Ridiculous. Anyway….I am going off track here lol.

You brought up a good point about educating the hearing parents with a deaf child of options. I am a firm believer that all parents SHOULD be educated of ALL options for their deaf child , there are more out there than just CI. In fact, all hospitals in this state require a hearing test at birth for newborns. My friend is working with all hospitals in our area to have us come and meet with the parents when their baby was confirmed with hearing loss. So far, many hospitals are willing to do this procedure, in fact they are grateful for this opportunity for the parents! In our meeting with parents, we just listen to parents’ concerns and discuss them. We also inform them of all kind of options including ASL, deaf community, interpreting, CI, and many more. We just want them to see that CI is not the answer that ends it all…there are much more to it. That deafness is NOT a terrible disability that many people ) think it is. From there, it is up to the parents to make an informed decision….not to be easily swayed by the audiologists (usually strong adovocates of CI). Perhaps, that is something you can do in your community?

Anyway, good vlog! Brought up good points.

By: Laura Lopez

Laura Lopez — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 02:24:03 +0000

It seems from a lot of these comments that most of you guys haven’t even watched this movie, Sicko. Michael Moore never appears in the movie with this family–it seems that he never even personally met this family. Michael Moore had absolutely nothing to do with this little girl getting a cochlear implant. The deaf girl had ALREADY gotten one cochlear implant and the insurance company had refused to pay for a second implant for her other ear. The father of the girl wrote the insurance company after he heard that Moore was making a movie about insurance companies. He basically threatened the company and their CEO with Moore making an example of them in the movie. The only reason that this family is presented in the movie is because the idea of Michael Moore apparently scared them into allowing the second cochlear implant. Michael Moore never had anything to do with this family; he only presented them in the movie as an example of how the insurance companies were so freaked out by his new movie.
I understand that cochlear implants are controversial, but Sicko makes no judgements on cochlear implants, the deaf community, nothing. Sicko is about the insurance companies and nothing more.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:30:11 +0000

Hi Jon,

I read that People magzaine last days ago but I missed that important part of that because picture of Harry Potter with money I think its pointless to read. Your video do catch my attention 100 percent!
Anyways my point is I do believe we, people should speak up that Michael Moore did wrong way, he supposed to research before he make a movie about this. I don’t think money and tech answer or anything, I don’t think that he can agure with medical issue to helping anything at all. My opinion, he should re-create his movie about how CI is high risk for them and helping other hearing parnet to think twice before they do something to thier own children. Deaf community is so so important to us.

Im forwarding to see what’s happen in the furture with Mike Moore!

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:14:51 +0000

This is an interesting issue. My guess is that there is two different prespectives in this story for their benefits. Michael Moore IS fighting for the medical reason -for the show- not for the family or the girl- The family sees that they HAVE to FIX the disablity. Cohear implant was available to FIX the girl for their own benefit. The family does not want to go to the girl. They want the girl to go to the family. AT the end.. who suffer? Who’s happy? Who’s winning the story? I pity that girl.

By: Mark Maki

Mark Maki — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:20:02 +0000

Jon,
I watched your vlog about a Deaf girl and I looked my magzaine People that you showed me. I find interesting topic.

long time qgo I read something about CI about babies can cause dangerous risks like bacterial meningitis I dont support CI for some reasons. michael moore seem opporunity to agrue about insurance and scaried insurance because he put media for his own reasons.

sound like he didnt know about DEAF and dont care to take time to research more information on DEAF issues. maybe Iam wrong maybe he will have opporunity to look into it someday???

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:51:53 +0000

By: michele

michele — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:50:59 +0000

My guess would be is that Michael Moore has a savior complexity — he likes to think that he is saving people from danger or whatever. He probably would not have bothered to check in with NAD, deaf community or whatever, when he had the opportunity to hear about this hearing family’s plight and their deaf daughter, he immediately jumped in and rescued them. Of course, this would make anyone feel good, wouldn’t it?