A mother whose child has had a cochlear implant tells Laura Mauldin why enrollment in the sign language program at her daughter's school is plummeting: "The majority of parents want their kids to talk." Some parents, however, feel very differently, because "curing" deafness with cochlear implants is uncertain, difficult, and freighted with judgment about what is normal, acceptable, and right. Made to Hear sensitively and thoroughly considers the structure and culture of the systems we have built to make deaf children hear.

Based on accounts of and interviews with families who adopt the cochlear implant for their deaf children, this book describes the experiences of mothers as they navigate the health care system, their interactions with the professionals who work with them, and the influence of neuroscience on the process. Though Mauldin explains the politics surrounding the issue, her focus is not on the controversy of whether to have a cochlear implant but on the long-term, multiyear undertaking of implantation. Her study provides a nuanced view of a social context in which science, technology, and medicine are trusted to vanquish disability-and in which mothers are expected to use these tools. Made to Hear reveals that implantation has the central goal of controlling the development of the deaf child's brain by boosting synapses for spoken language and inhibiting those for sign language, placing the politics of neuroscience front and center.

Examining the consequences of cochlear implant technology for professionals and parents of deaf children, Made to Hear shows how certain neuroscientific claims about neuroplasticity, deafness, and language are deployed to encourage compliance with medical technology.

About the Author

Laura Mauldin is assistant professor of human development / family studies and women's gender and sexuality studies at the University of Connecticut.

Reviews

"A superb account of how a controversial technology becomes normalized patient by patient. While following families from newborn screening to post-Cochlear implant, Laura Mauldin shows that little of the political turmoil related to this medical technology is salient for the parents faced with a child with hearing loss."-Stefan Timmermans, University of California, Los Angeles

"Dr Mauldin is a talented writer who offers keen insight in several areas where practitioners can improve."-Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education

Book Information
ISBN 9780816697250
Author Laura Mauldin
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint University of Minnesota Press
Publisher University of Minnesota Press
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 25mm