Deafness, Cochlear Implants and the Right to Live as Ethnicity: Negotiations of Deaf Culture and Policy in CHildren's and General Literature

Abstract

After introducing the controversies surrounding the use of CIs and their rootedness in the struggle for and over Deaf culture and identity, this paper discusses how literary characters wearing cochlear implants are used to negotiate Deaf culture in children’s literature. It argues that, while characters with cochlear implants are rare exceptions in general literature (as are, in fact, deaf characters in general), children’s literature dealing with deafness more frequently features CI-characters. At the same time, children’s authors seem to be well aware of the heatedness of the discussion surrounding cochlear implants within the Deaf community, and most novels follow a strategy of avoidance, giving equal space to both sides of the argument and staying clear of any ideological positioning themselves.