I feel like the narrative around disabled people has advanced to the point where some now insist that they aren't disabled. In reality, it's a pretty objective fact that being disabled means being unable to do something. It is a net negative on someone's quality of life. I'd be jolly pissed off if my parent decided not to get me an implant that enabled me to hear just because someone had told them that being deaf was actually the same as being able to hear. Give the kid the hearing aid, and if they don't like it they can take it out later.
There are plenty of things where this "different, not worse" narrative holds up. Children with autism or ADHD might struggle in some ways, but be better off in others. It seems clear that there is no objective reason they are worse than a neurotypical person, so if a "cure" to these conditions was developed, you would have some degree of moral quandary. But someone without hearing is just objectively worse off than someone with it, the same way someone without legs is worse off than someone with legs.
The last part is what really gets me about this. The child values the hearing aid so highly that they literally hug it as they go to sleep, and this is somehow presented as a "both sides are right" outcome. To me at least, that's a pretty conclusive endorsement that kids should be given these things.
There are plenty of things where this "different, not worse" narrative holds up. Children with autism or ADHD might struggle in some ways, but be better off in others. It seems clear that there is no objective reason they are worse than a neurotypical person, so if a "cure" to these conditions was developed, you would have some degree of moral quandary. But someone without hearing is just objectively worse off than someone with it, the same way someone without legs is worse off than someone with legs.
The last part is what really gets me about this. The child values the hearing aid so highly that they literally hug it as they go to sleep, and this is somehow presented as a "both sides are right" outcome. To me at least, that's a pretty conclusive endorsement that kids should be given these things.