23
April 2012
Greetings
NPR Ombudsman Schumacher-Matos:
The purpose of this letter is to express our discontent over the April 8, 2012 NPR news story / article "Cochlear Implants Redefine What it Means to Be Deaf." http://www.npr.org/2012/04/08/150245885/cochlear-implants-redefine-what-it-means-to-be-deaf.
Audism Free America (AFA) is a grassroots Deaf activist network
in the US, which advocates for Deaf American rights, cultural resurgence, and
seeks primarily to challenge the ideological foundations of audism in America.
Audism is attitudes and practices based on the assumption that behaving in the
ways of those who speak and hear is desired and best. It produces a system of
privilege, thus resulting in stigma, bias, discrimination, and prejudice—in
overt or covert ways—against Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and Deaf
people of all walks of life.
While National Public
Radio is a cherished institution in the US and abroad and known for its
journalistic integrity, NPR fell way off the mark of balanced and just
reporting when tackling the controversial subject of cochlear implants. Not only
is the article riddled with falsehoods about the miracles of cochlear implants,
it also neglects to cover the recalls, deaths, complications, court cases and
fines against cochlear implant corporations. Furthermore, NPR is remiss
by FAILING to examine the HARMS of cochlear implants in terms of language deprivation
and overall wellbeing of the child (see
www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-9-16.pdf
Regardless of whether a Deaf child has a cochlear implant or not, four major international organizations have declared that Deaf children should not be denied the right to a fully accessible signed language (see the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) New Era and Accord for the Future 2010 Agreement).
Unfortunately,
NPR compromised its journalistic integrity with the many "wrongs" in
this article instead of investigating what it means to be Deaf (past, present
and future) and Deaf rights. Many media analysts have lamented the
downgrading of journalist rigor in light of the technological digital
age. It is our hope that NPR will return to being a bastion for truth as
opposed to quickly piecing together tantalizing fluff and unjust prophecies. We
hope and trust that this one erroneous article is not an indicator that the
digital age is redefining what it means to have journalistic integrity.
If you care to learn more about who we are and what we STAND for, please feel free to contact us at audismfreeamerica (at) gmail.com
If you care to learn more about who we are and what we STAND for, please feel free to contact us at audismfreeamerica (at) gmail.com
Let
Freedom Roll,
Patti
Durr, Ruthie Jordan, and Karen Christie
on behalf of Audism Free America
http://audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com/
