Linda Komesaroff

Coming to a Decision About Cochlear Implantation: Parents Making Choices for their Deaf Children

This study combined quantitative and qualitative methods in a sequential approach to investigate the experiences of parents making decisions about cochlear implants for their deaf children. Quantitative findings from a survey instrument completed by 247 parents were extended and elaborated by qualitative findings from in-depth interviews with 27 of the survey respondents. Although parents used a variety of information sources when considering an implant, cochlear implant centers and doctors comprised their major source of information. Most parents found the decision-making process difficult and stressful, but a proportion reported finding the decision easy, believing that there was no other option for their child, and were keen for implantation to proceed as soon as possible. Implications for professionals working with families are discussed.

Category politics : deaf students' inclusion in the 'hearing university'

This article investigates the way in which deaf tertiary students’ identity is constructed within the university – an overwhelmingly ‘hearing’ institution. It is a descriptive and analytical account of the experiences of two deaf teacher education students as they reflect on their progress and experiences in higher education. Data have been analysed within an interpretive framework of category politics and the construction of difference. The study found that providing the same access to the same information in the same form did little to address the discursive marginality of these students.

Going to Court over Education: Researcher as Expert Witness.

Over the past decade, a growing number of complaints have been made against Australian education authorities over the language of instruction used to teach deaf children. The complaints, made under the Disability Discrimination Act, were lodged with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for investigation and possible conciliation. When conciliation failed, two of these cases continued to the Federal Court of Australia. An analysis of court transcripts and the determinations made by the Federal Court is presented in this paper. The focus of analysis is the way in which researchers who appeared as expert witnesses in these cases were positioned by counsels for the respondents. Foremost among the findings was the way in which researchers, whose work challenged the approach taken by the education authorities, were represented as being political.