Total communication draws upon speech, sign, gesture, finger spelling, pantomime, drawing, writing, and touch—it can involve all modalities, and it is designed to meet the needs of deaf people (and presumably all people), whatever they might be (Evans 1982).

This mother’s statement reveals a central theme and tension in this book: despite the increasing presence of cochlear implants, the futures of implanted children are unknown. What can an individual implanted child become, and to what extent are that child’s current paths and future trajectories shared with other deaf people with or without cochlear

I am, however, concerned with lack of another sort: the lack that stems from deep inequalities in how people hear with and experience implants, and the world, as a result of different iterations of technology, planned and geographically stratified obsolescence, and a growing private cochlear implant market.

mothers are required to play multiple roles in interacting with, teaching, and caring for their deaf children.

the importance of attuning to a child or person and being open to different senses and modalities.

mothers actively work to find and create opportunities to be social with their children, in ways that transcend a focus on a single sense and that at times go against the grain of what therapists and early intervention teachers and experts advise.

communication—and relationality—can come in different forms, in contrast to what professionals often tell mothers about the primacy of listening and spoken language.

By “anonymous love,” I mean that disability has turned into an exceptional—even transcendent—category to be showered with affection and benevolence under the current government.

What kinds of pedagogical, social, and sensory infrastructures develop in such spaces, and how do they create conditions for specific kinds of communication and relationality?