A Qualitative Methods Research Proposal Concerning Deaf Infant Cochlear Implantation and Feelings of Acceptance by Hearing Peers
by David W. Boles

This qualitative methods final project will endeavor to create a research proposal that will attempt to begin to answer the following question: Do Deaf infants with cochlear implants feel accepted by their Hearing peers as Hearing or are they still viewed as being Deaf or as Something Else? The cultural crevasse between Deaf Culture and the Hearing World is one of great concern for Deaf children and their Hearing parents. Cultures are built on language and only those who can at least rudimentarily express the language of the culture have the opportunity for acceptance by the community. What happens, then, when a Deaf-born infant whose native language is visual and not aural then has a surgical procedure to impose an audible language via implantation? Is a child’s native or natural pattern of visual language development forsaken for technology? Are those implanted Deaf infants destined to be stuck in a cross-cultural language contamination?...

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