- Title: People First: Silence Is Golden?
- Date: 16th June 1994
- Summary: This edition of PEOPLE FIRST seeks out the deaf community for their views on the latest medical treatments on offer. Cochlear implants, a new device heralded as a 'bionic ear', is the latest medical technology to provide hope for profoundly deaf people. Yet many members of Britain's deaf community see the implant as a threat, not a miracle. They are happy as they are, and refuse to be 'cured' by doctors or scientists. They have their own form of communication - sign language - and don't feel inferior or disadvantaged. The cochlear implant will in fact give only a partial sense of sound, not normal hearing. But in the longer term, it may enable the child to hear enough to learn to speak. A microphone is worn in the ear to pick up sounds. these are then transmitted via a magnetic coil into an electrode surgically implanted into the inner ear or cochlea, which artificially stimulates the nerves used for hearing. Nine out of ten deaf children are born to hearing parents. And it is the parents who face the dilemma whether or not to opt for an implant for their child. Against this backdrop of controversy and anger, this film follows the Hebdens - a hearing family from Lancashire - as they attempt to decide for or against an implant for their five year old daughter Zoe.
- Description:EXAMINES THE MYTHS SURROUNDING COCHLEAR IMPLANTS AND THE DEAF COMMUNITY'S RESERVATIONS ABOUT A CURE.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Diverse Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:16/06/1994
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 1990s