Sign Language- "Sweet Nothing in My Ear"

Sign Language I Essay

“Sweet Nothing in my Ear”

Who do you agree with and why?

In the movie, “Sweet Nothing in my Ear”, Dan and Laura have a son named Adam. Adam was born hearing like his father and becomes deaf when he is around 8 years old, like his mother. His father becomes attracted to the idea of a cochlear implant when it is mentioned to him by a doctor that he met at the emergency room. He becomes increasingly interested in the whole idea after his initial disproval. His wife, Laura is on the complete opposite side of the fence when he brings the idea up to her. She is appalled at the suggestion. If I had to agree with one of these parent’s opinions, I would agree with Laura.

Although I can understand where Dan is coming from, and his intentions are good, I can see that Laura is in my opinion making the right decision in not wanting the implant for her son. The mom has concern for Adam, that he won’t feel that he is a part of the hearing community or the deaf community if they go ahead with the implant. She is afraid that he will feel alone and that he won’t fit in anywhere. He would be forced into mainstream school, where he would not be able to sign and he would be trying to learn to listen and speak with voice instead of hands. Dan goes behind Laura’s back for most of the movie and schedules appointments and goes ahead with major decisions on his own, without consulting his wife at all. They never sit down to talk about the implant with each other and try to understand each other’s point of views. Instead they just keep their separate opinions and it leads to disaster when they eventually have to end up filing for divorce, even though they love each other. It is all due to their failure to communicate. Dan thinks that Adam wants to go back to being a hearing child, but that is really what he wants. What is best for Adam is to let him be Adam; to let him be unique and teach him to celebrate his uniqueness. Not to make him want to be something...