My younger brother lost virtually all of his hearing (and nearly his life; the attending neurologist later said that my brother was his sickest patient who live

My younger brother lost virtually all of his hearing (and nearly his life; the attending neurologist later said that my brother was his sickest patient who lived) after contracting bacterial meningitis when he was 2 years old. This was in the mid-90s and I was in middle school at the time. He received a cochlear implant and extensive speech therapy throughout his early education, but since he had only just begun speaking when he lost his hearing it was an arduous struggle for him. He clearly was more comfortable among the deaf, and ultimately attended high school and college for deaf/blind students rather than integrating into normal schools. His wife is (congenitally) deaf, as are most of his friends, and he hasn’t turned on his cochlear implant in years. One of his friends is also a childhood cochlear implant recipient, and he has reached the point where you almost can’t tell that he has a hearing problem. I’ve had some interesting conversations with him about the cultural divide, since he is able to bridge it, and in the process gained a greater appreciation for the challenges my brother has faced. At the very least, I can understand why he would choose to turn off his implant despite all the time and money spent to support it in the past. edit: as an interesting coda, my brother and his wife just welcomed their first child, and she has normal hearing. This has prompted him to look into options for turning his implant back on and restarting speech therapy.