Assistant Professor Laura Mauldin, received Honorable Mention from the American Sociological Association for her 2016 book, Made to Hear: Cochlear Implants and Raising Deaf Children. Published by the University of Minnesota Press (2016).
Made to Hear explores the long-term, multi-year undertaking of cochlear implantation and the experiences of mothers of deaf children as they navigate the health care system and professionals advocating implantation. Mauldin expertly documents that ways in which the medical infrastructure and language encourage compliance by mothers and children with medical technology and a medicalized view of deafness. This book deserves great praise in particular for its strong methodological and theoretical framework, highly informed and well-balanced analysis, and its contributions to a core issue in the field of disability.