Hearing impaired with a Cochlear Implant

[Tooners]

Hello all,

We are looking at immigrating to the Halifax, NS area this year (as long as the job offer holds). Our son who is six years old was born severly deaf and was given a cochlear implant when he was two.

What we would like to know is what sort of care there is in NS or neighbouring provinces in support of this kind of operation? Here in the UK he has an annual checkup, and any technical problems/issues are addressed by his implant team at the hospital.

Will we need to take out additional medical insurance for him?

Will this affect our/his visa application?

[Michael1944]

Disability is not a word commonly used, we refer to individuals as challenged .

IWK Hospital in Halifax is a top Children's Hospital and I do not think you will find any services lacking nor will your son's current state play a role in immigrating.

[justajester]

In the school system (here in NS, at least), we say that a child has 'special needs'. This includes any child which does not fall into what some would say are "normal". This means any child with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, emotional disabilites, social disabilities...the list is extensive. And we refer to such a child as one experiencing a physical disability (for instance), not a disabled child. * These are not including learning delays, emotional delays,etc. (a whole different kettle of fish entirely). By the way, children who are gifted are also considered to have 'special needs'.

Different provinces may use different words, but I think for the most part this is accepted practice in most of North America. I know many of our text books used these terminologies, and that many of them were printed in the U.S.


*Funny how words are used, isn't it? Even though within the medical field, it is perfectly alright to say that a child's growth is retarded in a certain area, it would be considered anathema to say the child is retarded.

[Buddyboy]

Good luck in Halifax, Tooners. You'll love it. Hope things work out for you.