Lew Golan was totally deafened by meningitis at age six, and heard no sounds at all until receiving a cochlear implant a couple of years ago (in his 60's). He wrote the book "Reading Between the Lips - A totally deaf man makes it in the mainstream".
Below are some comments from Mr. Golan about deaf education:
"Assuming that the major purpose of an education is to prepare a child for an independent, productive, satisfying adulthood, how can we maximize the opportunities for a deaf child?
It may not be fair -- but it's a fact: deaf people with usable oral capabilities (speaking and lipreading) have more vocational opportunities open to them than do those who cannot or will not speak and speechread.
These greater opportunities include not only a broader range of vocations -- more different kinds of jobs -- but also opportunities to advance into management and executive positions in the mainstream.
Yes, it's possible for a deaf person to be a manager or executive in an organization of hearing people -- *if* he can communicate with them orally.
In addition, there is a relationship between socializing and getting a job. The number one method by which companies find new employees is by word of mouth.
Deaf people who are capable of socializing among hearing people in the mainstream (which requires the ability to speak and read lips) are more likely to make a connection and find a mainstream job this way; those who socialize only in the sign-language world are out of the loop...and out of luck.
Deaf people, as a group, are underemployed and have below-average incomes. A deaf person needs every advantage he or she can get to compete for good jobs and promotions.
I was head of creative services at America's largest marketing communications agency. I was the second-highest executive in the agency, and a member of the executive committee. As senior vice president, I was responsible for about 100 people -- creative directors, writers, art directors, production people, television producers, purchasing people.
I hired them, trained them, supervised them, motivated them, guided them, reviewuated them, compensated them, promoted them -- and sometimes fired them.
How? By talking with them, of course.
They didn't know sign language -- so, even if I had known sign (which I don't), it would have been useless in the mainstream environment.
People were in and out of my office all day long.Or I was walking around, looking at what they were doing, making suggestions for doing it better.Or I was talking with the account executives. Or the financial VP.Or our suppliers. Or our clients.
Then there were the management meetings...the creative department meetings...the executive committee meetings.
The fact that I am totally deaf did not keep me from functioning quite effectively as head of creative services -- and then, at another agency, as executive vice president.
Deafness itself was not an insurmountable obstacle. But if I had not been able to communicate with all those people, all day long, 10 to 12 hours a day, day after day -- at a fast, efficient, professional level -- in their language, which is spoken English -- *that* would have been an insurmountable obstacle.
The ability to speak and lipread did not get me those jobs.
My professional qualifications did.
But without the ability to speak and speechread, I would not have been able to get those particular jobs -- no matter how qualified I may have been otherwise -- because oral communication is an essential, full-time function of those particular jobs.
And this is true of many other jobs, to a greater or lesser extent - especially at the supervisory and executive levels.
While sign language is a perfectly good form of communication among people who know sign, it is virtually useless in the mainstream -- since most people do not know sign.
Therefore, a deaf person who cannot communicate orally has limited horizons and opportunities.
People sometimes try to make things as easy and unthreatening as possible for a deaf child. But that's not necessarily good.
A child's independence and ability to participate in mainstream society as an adult may well depend on having learned to live in a challenging environment.
Oral communication is unquestionably more difficult than sign language. But the years of oral (or auditory/oral) therapy and practice can lay the groundwork for an independent, productive, satisfying adult life in the mainstream.
Acquisition of oral skills is not something that can be relegated to an extracurricular activity; an oral-based education provides the time on task and the contextual environment necessary for maximizing the development of oral skills -- which, in turn, will maximize a deaf person's vocational and social opportunities."