NEgative comments

Frank and I had some errands to take care of yesterday so we decided to take the boys with us last night. You know, one big happy family...

I had to return something to Target and we had to go to Fortunoff to look for a gift. We were in Fortunoff. I was pushing Cormac in a cart and Frank was pushing Ciaran and Colin. I was strolling through the jewelry department when a sales person approaches me. She points to Cormac's ears and says "how did you know he needed hearing aids?" I always love the opportunity to tell people about the wonderful miracle of cochlear implants so I say "those are actaully cochlear implants. We found out when he was born he was had failed a newborn screening. We followed up and it turns out he was deaf". Before I could say more she says "well, maybe if you didn't do that to him he would have heard you". To say I was surprised by the comment is to put it mildly. I was also angered by her comment but reminded myself quickly most people don't have any experience with hearing loss or deafness and lack of knowledge can often lead to comments. My answer? "well, if we hadn't done this he wouldn't hear you talking about him at the moment. He is profoundly deaf and would have heard nothing his entire life and wouldn't be talking up a storm as we walk through the store". (about 1 minute before she talked to me Cormac had just pointed to a figurine of Mickey and Minnie and said "Mom, look it's Mickey and Minnie and Minnie is wearing a tiara" yes, he said that entire sentence and said it clear and perfect and people standing around us understood him perfectly!) The kind sales lady says "do you really think so?" I guess doubting he was deaf and we made him deaf? I don't know. I say "I don't think so, I know so" and walked away before my blood boiled and I knocked her out!

DId this woman actually think you could "outgrow" profound hearing loss? I am not sure.

This is my first experience with negativity regarding Cormac's implants. The funny part is I always thought it would come from perhaps someone in the deaf community who thought I shouldn't have implanted Cormac. But for someone to be almost seem like they were accusing me of "making" him deaf, well, I was shocked. I have only come across people who are so supportive and amazing about his implants.