Sound of Fury; Deaf Culture vs. A Better Future

Does the world have a "deaf culture"? Should all deaf kids get cochlear implants so they can be able to hear be "normal" or should they stay deaf? Should you give your kid a cochlear impant so they can have a "normal" life or keep them the way they are and have them decide for themselves later on but by then it might be too late? From watching the film, Sound of Fury, I personally feel like Heather's parents should have given her the cochlear implant because it would benefit her significantly not just her childhood but throughout her whole entire life. She would be able to hear a car coming, people talking to her, fire alarms/police sirens, talk to people through the phone and babies crying. She would be able to communicate like other hearing kids in her neighborhood. I feel like her parents want to keep their daughter in the hearing world, but they have to understand that if they do give her the cochlear implant, she will still be around the deaf culture because her family is deaf. She will help them speak with other hearing people, and she will sign to her family.

In the beginning of the film, Heather's dad said, "I don't understand why parents would want to put a device in their kid's brain. It's so invasive." Heather's mom also said, "Hearing people communicate only by moving their lips. Deaf people communicate more visual."I feel like Heather's family is very comfortable with being deaf so that's why they don't want Heather to get the cochlear implant and that's why they moved to a town where deafness was more allowed and known about. Signing is more visual but they have to understand that deaf kids don't advance as well in school as hearing kids. At fourth grade, that is when deaf kids first learn how to read; for hearing kids it's usually after kindergarden/1st grade. When Heather plays with hearing kids at her school, she gets real frustrated because they don't understand what she wants to do. She also said, "I want to hear buses, smoke alarms, alarms and cars." She clearly wants the cochlear impant but I feel like her parents manipulated her to not wanting it because their mother couldn't get it.

When Heather's family went to go visit that one family that had their kid get a cochlear implant when she was young, they were shocked at the fact that the their daughter didn't even know how to sign, her parents didn't teach her and that their family didn't know anything about the deaf culture. Their family didn't know anything about it because their whole family isn't deaf. Every family is different, there are different circumstances to everything and Heather's world will change when she gets the cochlear implant but she will forever be surround by the deaf culture. Her parents are deaf, her brothers and sister's are also deaf so she will never be taken away from that culture.

The filmmaker focuses on emotions and how the deaf people would soon feel like robots because all the deaf kids will be implanted with devices so they can hear and the deaf culture will just die after that. The kids that get cochlear implants will not be like robots; they just need a device to help them hear  and it does not control them in any way at all. Heathe'r grandmother got real emotional when she was telling her son how hurtful it was on him when he was growing up and how confused he was about how different he was from other kids. She didn't want her grandchildren to go through the hardships her son went through that's why she wanted Heather to get the cochlear implant so much. In the other family that had twins, the grandma felt like their grandkids would make fun of them and they'd be forgotten. Your grandkids will realize that you are deaf but they can learn to sign and "speak" to you. As long as you're a great grandparent and do the best that you can, your grandkids will love you no matter what. Love does not discriminate on race, gender, disablities, and etc.

Sound of Fury is an exuberant film that focuses on the discources in society, the difference between deaf culture and hearing culture and elaborates on how deaf people feel on cochlear implants and how it'll make kids forget the importance of the deaf world but they need to realize deaf culture will always be around. Therefore, I think that Heather's parents should give Heather the best future and best capabilites to advance in society and be successful.