I have heard of parents who know nothing about deafness arriving home with their newly identified newborns (or babies who have just survived major illness and lost their hearing), and frantically thumbing through the yellow pages for information on deafness.
Parents of newborns who are told about a condition like deafness should be given more assistance and more information before they leave the hospital with their baby. Why can't hospitals provide these parents with deafness counselors the way they provide hospital chaplains?
Deafness counselors would take these parents aside for special counseling sessions at which they would explain the various educational options in more detail. Perhaps they could show a short film depicting a variety of deaf children talking, cueing, signing, and using hearing aids and using cochlear implants. They could provide parents with lists of references to families that have deaf children who are willing to be resources and guides for parents during this emotionally difficult time and assist in the search for information.
Some people have suggested a team approach, having a team of people counsel the new parents in the hospital. I disagree with this approach because I feel it might be overwhelming for new parents who already have enough to deal with ("how do I change that diaper?"). Instead, it would be better to have just one person knowledgable about all aspects of deafness provide unbiased counseling.
This would not mean that the hospitals would have to hire additional people - the deafness counselor could be a person (audiologist, doctor, nurse, or administrative person) already on staff, who is summoned whenever a newborn is identified as deaf.
Then maybe we would not have worried parents searching desperately through the yellow pages at a time when they need to adjust to diapering and other challenges of caring for a newborn.
