Telephone, cinema and cyborgs : the mutual relations between deafness and technology

Kulturowa historia relacji niesłyszenia i techniki opowiadana jest zazwyczaj wedle utartych i wielokrotnie powtarzanych scenariuszy, w których klarownie rozpisano role wynalazców, producentów i konsumentów. W opowieściach tych osoby niesłyszące - podobnie jak osoby z niepełnosprawnościami w ogóle - nieodmiennie zajmują pozycję konsumentów. Związki niesłyszenia i techniki są jednak bardziej złożone i niejednoznaczne, a zakwestionowanie patologiczności niesłyszenia i uznanie, że można je traktować jako przejaw ludzkiej różnorodności, pozwala spojrzeć na technikę pod całkowicie innym kątem. Niesłyszenie staje się wówczas sposobem doświadczania rzeczywistości, który pozwala między innymi w codziennych przedmiotach dostrzegać afordancje odmienne od zwyczajowo uznanych, nierzadko z korzyścią dla słyszących użytkowników. Książka Telefon, kino i cyborgi. Wzajemne relacje niesłyszenia i techniki oferuje alternatywne ujęcie kulturowej historii techniki oraz spogląda na nią z "głuchych" peryferii. Wskazuje na niesłyszących jako aktywnych i sprawczych aktorów technologicznej zmiany. Przyjęcie takiej optyki pozwala w kinie dostrzec pole bitwy o prawa obywatelskie, w telefonie ujrzeć pierwszy elektryczny aparat słuchowy, a w zaimplantowanych głuchych - cyborgi.

The cultural history of the relation between deafness and technology shows that the same scenarios are often repeated over and over again: deaf people – just like people with disabilities - invariably occupy the position of consumers or beneficiaries, while the roles of innovators are assigned to hearing (and able-bodied) engineers, inventors and producers. Telephone, cinema and cyborgs. The mutual relations between deafness and technology offers an alternative approach to this history that is written from the 'deaf periphery'. This perspective makes it possible to consider cinema subtitles in terms of civil rights; to see the invention of the telephone as the first electric hearing aid; and to recognize the implanted deaf as cyborgs. The experience of being deaf involves everyday hacking and modification of objects and services. All people, including the hearing and able-bodied, benefit from this: for example, when using subtitles on Netflix or YouTube. The book’s main focus is technologies related to telephony, cinema and hearing aids. These include a wide range of solutions: from those invented by the hearing world to normalize the deaf, to technologies created by deaf people themselves. When investigated with the deaf experience in mind, these technologies reveal common themes: deaf agency, and the right to use or reject technology. For example, in the fields of medicine and rehabilitation, hearing aids are often discussed with an optimism that leaves no room for critical reflection. In turn, deaf studies and Deaf Culture show great distrust towards medical technologies, which are perceived as a means of ‘fixing’ the deaf and forcing the oral mode of communication on them. Telephone, cinema and cyborgs shows that both these perspectives are incomplete as the relationship between deafness and technology is much more nuanced. This may be seen in the Deaf community’s complex reactions to cochlear implants. Some deaf reject them as a threat to the Deaf community and sign language; however, for others, implants may be just another way of experiencing the world in a 'deaf way'. Telephone, cinema and cyborgs stands on the intersection of cultural studies, history of technology, deaf studies, and disability studies; it draws from the research and theoretical approaches of all these disciplines. Cultural studies focuses on individual cultural practices and values ​​that are attributed to technologies; it allows individual voices on technology to be heard, therefore both enthusiastic and dystopian views on technology are presented. The history of technology brings analysis of primary sources, of the materiality of technology, and of its social, political and economic contexts; all this makes it possible to redefine the values embedded in particular solutions and revise their history. Finally, deaf studies and disability studies bring the perspectives of marginalized groups, which are usually regarded as a subject of the social, medical and pedagogical sciences rather than as active and creative providers of new cultural texts and technological change.