Lance Allred Cavs Update

On Tuesday I posted about Lance Allred, the NBA’s first deaf basketball player. Since then, I ran across another article on him which detailed his struggles in getting to his sport’s highest level.
Most of this article details the difficulty that “minor league” basketball players go through in scraping up enough money to live (and [...]

Deaf NBA Player Has Cochlear Implants

Lance Allred was just signed to a 10-day contract by the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. While a fantastic accomplishment in itself, his stint in the NBA is even more spectacular considering he is deaf.
Lance has had around a 75% loss of hearing since birth, but now has (bilateral?) cochlear implants. In one article he [...]

Please

Read this. Then you will understand why I feel the need to comment here.
. . .
Drew’s Dad stumbled upon this blog post today about “Turn On My Ears” and he made the mistake tonight of letting me read it. I can not ignore this blog post, and feel the need to comment here.
I can imagine [...]

Cochlear Implants: Young People’s Views

What do teenagers who received a cochlear implant when younger think about their parent’s decision to go ahead with the surgery?
The National Deaf Children’s Society (UK) and The Ear Foundation (UK) has produced a booklet with contains the responses of around 30 children who were between 13 and 17 years old to questions including the [...]

Cochlear Implant Discussion Groups and Listservs

If you are asking yourself any of the following questions, visiting the link below should help you find some answers.
1) Where can I find out more information about cochlear implants and hearing loss?2) What are some good cochlear implant, deafness and hard-of-hearing discussion groups?3) Are there any cochlear implant listservs?4) What is it like to [...]

Youngest Child in Ohio to Receive Simultaneous Implants

It is amazing to me how many things have been in the media recently regarding deafness and cochlear implants. I don’t remember seeing so many things about the deaf community and cochlear implants before Drew was born deaf, but then again, maybe I am just noticing it now, since these story lines impact my life [...]

Study Looks at Benefits of Bilateral Cochlear Implants – Link

There have been many decisions made along this journey so far, but one of the more easy ones is to have Drew bilaterally implanted. While this is a new practice, studies show that having both ears implanted positively impacts the recipients ability to localize sound and hear in crowded places.
Most pre-lingual, single cochlear implant recipients [...]

The Research Project is A Go!

I talked with the team doing the research project on cochlear implant candidates at Cincinnati Children’s late last week, and have been assured that Drew’s participation in the study will in no way impact our time line for having Drew implanted. As a result, we have decided to have Drew participate in the study.
Drew’s MRI, [...]

What About Brian? – Link

There is a new show on ABC called “What About Brian?” that has a storyline on a child with hearing loss. I was able to watch the last episode, and it made me cry to see the girl playing, isolated from those around her because she can not hear! The little girl was born with [...]

Deaf and Proud to Use Sign Language – Link

This ABC News article discusses the debate between living life as deaf or with diminished hearing, or having technological assistance through the use of hearing aids or a cochelar implant.
One of the first things my wife and I noticed when learning about Drew’s options was that many of the professionals we saw “danced around” certain [...]