Cochlear Implants

I thought I would do a post on the movie we watched for class today, Sound and Fury. I found the movie very interesting and moving. The two kids and their families that were facing the decision on allowing their kids to have cochlear implants had very different perspectives about whether it was a right decision or not.
The family with the little five year old girl named Heather was considering giving their daughter the implant but were a little scared that she would lose her sense of self. I think that they had very good reason for thinking this, but I don't think it was enough reason to end up saying no to the implant. When they visited the school with kids that had cochlear implants, none of them signed. At such a young age, they should still be using sign language in case the cochlear implant stops working or they decide to take it out at some point. I don't think that a cochlear implant should automatically change the child from being deaf to hearing. They should still experience both worlds.
However, I do feel like Heather's family made the wrong decision in not allowing her to get an implant. She is only five years old and that is around the best time to do it, because they still have a good chance at learning to speak and understand. In the movie, the school tried to eliminate sign language from their students lives. I think this worried the family but I don't see how they could eliminate it from Heather's life because of the fact that her parents are deaf. If she got the cochlear implant, would her teachers not allow her to speak to her family anymore? I think that she could have lived both worlds and then given a choice later on as to whether or not she wanted to keep her cochlear implant.
The other case was a relative of Heather's. It was her cousin peter. He was born with a hearing twin brother, but he himself was deaf. His parents wanted to get him a cochlear implant immediately so that he could have as "normal" of a life as possible. Almost everyone was against this decision except for the parents. His deaf grandparents were very against it at first but I think they began to come to their sense a bit towards the end and realize that it wasn't their decision to make and that they just had to respect it and hope for the best.
I'm not sure how I feel on baby Peter's case. I can see both sides and I think that I am leaning more towards the side of the grandparents and the other family members. I think the parents were definately trying to look out for their son, but he wasn't even a year old when this decision was made for him. Unlike Heather, he wasn't able to express his own desires and thoughts on the cochlear implant. I think doing cochlear implants on infants is a bit too early and that maybe they should of waited a couple more years to see how he felt. However, I do also agree with their parents at the same time. They wanted their baby to be able to have the best life possible and according to them, schooling for hearing kids is better than that of deaf kids. If this is true, by allowing their son to have a hearing person's education, they are making the better decision.
Cochlear implants are very controversial. It ends up just coming down to a matter of personal decisions and experience. I think cochlear implants definately change a person and that anyone with one can be both deaf and hearing but maybe feel like neither of those. They may feel strange, special, or different. These implants are very difficult decisions and should be researched and thought out very carefully before going forward with one.