IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 77

rFID implantees were well versed
in technology, had experimented
with the tag before the implantation,
and continued to tinker with the tag
after the implantation. Implantees
explained the convenience of their
tag in terms of always having their
keys with them without the possibility to lose or forget them. Some of
them even aspire to replace all keys
with rFID technology.

had diminished over time, which
increasingly caused communication problems.
Consequently, these hearingimpaired people increasingly felt
detached from everyday society. With a CI, the world of the
respondents grew larger again.
Not only can CI users hear better,
but their social skills also improve
because of their improved ability
to communicate.

So, for me being able to
just put my hand up there,
and have it scanned, you
know, reliably every time,
very quickly and not a lot
of inconvenience uh- that's
that's key. So, that's what
I've been enjoying about the
technology uh since the first
day. (randall, rFID)
randall and other implantees
did not give much thought to the
fact that this tool was in their body.
Although the tag was operating in
an unusual environment, it remains
similar to holding a rFID card in
one's hands.
I really see ... what I've done
as simply moving the uh-
you know the RFID access
card from your pants pocket
to your skin pocket. (randall, rFID)
The CI users had equivalent
thoughts about crossing the skin
boundary. Because the tool is placed
inside of the body, both rFID and CI
users considered the implant to be a
part of themselves in a way similar to
other body parts; their specific functions are part of someone. All respondents regarded the implant as a tool
that makes life easier and they were
in the end indifferent to the location
in the body, Yet, the implant did have
different outcomes for the sense of
self of the respondents, as we will see
in the two following sections.
For the CI users, the implant is
a means of becoming "normal."
Most of the respondents' hearing

I didn't really talk with
people I didn't know well.
The CI changed this considerably. I can remember
the amazement of [name of
husband] when, on the first
holiday after the connection,
I started to talk to a fellow
camper about the weather. I
never would have done that
before. (Ingrid, CI)
However, the CI is not a magical solution; it is not the tool itself
but how CI users apply the tool that
connects them with society. One of
the respondents, who had been born
deaf, still struggled with integrating within hearing society. She felt
rejected by many people, perhaps
largely because she spoke slowly
and still had difficulty communicating. The ability to hear gives respondents the opportunity to integrate in
society, but people still have to come
out of their isolation themselves and
have to be accepted as well.
The respondents clearly indicated
that they are dependent on their CIs,
wearing them most of the time though many turned it off at times
when they wanted to have some
peace and quiet. They indicated that
if the technology suddenly stopped
working, they would be in more
trouble than before their implantation - since their CI is constantly
used, the CI users struggle to live
without it, and the CI becomes part
of their identity.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

You really get used to it. It's
just a part of me (Frans, CI)
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SuMMEr 2014

All respondents got their
implants at an adult age and none of
them had a clear affinity with deaf
culture. Most respondents were
hearing impaired or turned deaf in
their later years. One respondent
who was born deaf went to a deaf
school, but she believed there was
more to life than deaf culture. She
believed that everyone, including
hearing people, should mingle with
all kinds of people, including hearing, hearing-impaired, those with
disabilities, and so on. Another
respondent, who suddenly turned
deaf in childhood, felt she did not
belong to any kind of group, either
hearing or deaf. When confronted
with the cultural concerns on CI of
deaf people who see themselves as
a linguistic minority, some respondents understood the concern but
disagreed with it, while others
did not understand why someone
would refuse a CI. The responses of
the CI users illuminate their choice
for a CI: it enables them to function within a society in which the
majority is hearing. Without CI,
the respondents indicated that they
would likely be caught between
two worlds, rather than become
part of deaf culture.
While most respondents expressed
a desire to belong to broader society,
one woman indicated that she did
not need the CI in order to do so.
Evy believed she could communicate well despite her inability to hear.
When she just had had her CI, she felt
uncomfortable when people commented on how easy it now was to
communicate with her; it gave her the
feeling that she was not a full person
while being deaf. Furthermore, Evy
feels society becomes less and less
capable of dealing with difference. A
sense of entitlement pervades society,
according to Evy, and if something
does not work well, or somebody has
a disability, it has become imperative
to repair that:
I think that is a very scary
idea and a really dangerous
development. (Evy, CI)
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014