Laura Mauldin – författare

A mother whose child has had a cochlear implant tells Laura Mauldin why enrollment in the sign language program at her daughter’s school is plummeting: “The majority of parents want their kids to talk.” Some parents, however, feel very differently, because “curing” deafness with cochlear implants is uncertain, difficult, and freighted with judgment about what is normal, acceptable, and right. Made to Hear sensitively and thoroughly considers the structure and culture of the systems we have built to make deaf children hear.Based on accounts of and interviews with families who adopt the cochlear implant for their deaf children, this book describes the experiences of mothers as they navigate the health care system, their interactions with the professionals who work with them, and the influence of neuroscience on the process. Though Mauldin explains the politics surrounding the issue, her focus is not on the controversy of whether to have a cochlear implant but on the long-term, multiyear undertaking of implantation. Her study provides a nuanced view of a social context in which science, technology, and medicine are trusted to vanquish disability-and in which mothers are expected to use these tools. Made to Hear reveals that implantation has the central goal of controlling the development of the deaf child’s brain by boosting synapses for spoken language and inhibiting those for sign language, placing the politics of neuroscience front and center.Examining the consequences of cochlear implant technology for professionals and parents of deaf children, Made to Hear shows how certain neuroscientific claims about neuroplasticity, deafness, and language are deployed to encourage compliance with medical technology.

COVID-19 has once again illuminated the ways in which health risks and negative health outcomes are tied to economic and social inequalities. Disabled people rank among those most disadvantaged in terms of education, income, and social inclusion and this exacerbated their risk of negative pandemic-related outcomes. From the start, it was clear that disabled people would be disproportionately affected by the pandemic and this solidified as the pandemic unfolded.Disability in the Time of Pandemic is a timely exploration of emerging research into the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for people with disabilities in their varied communities and across their complex identities. Using the insights, perspectives, and methods of a variety of disciplines including Anthropology, Disability Studies, Education, Physical and Rehabilitation Therapies, Public Health, Psychology, Sociology, and Women’s and Gender Studies, authors explore the initial and ongoing effects of the global pandemic on people with disabilities in Canada, India, Poland, and the United States.The Research in Social Science and Disability series is essential reading for researchers and students across the social sciences interested in disability, social movements, activism, and identity.