The Story of Simon

A friend of mine at Gallaudet (hearing) recently received a care package from her family back home in NY. Love and good wishes were packed into cards and sealed with a kiss. Specifically, her grandmother sent a card with something special inside. She explained that she found something on her usual pew in church one Sunday. It made her think of her granddaughter at Gally and knew it was meant for her. It's a small flipbook some kid made-- pictures pasted on index cards, telling "The Story of Simon, the Deaf and Dumb Man," complete with pictures on every page. [Kevin later explained to my ignorant self that this is what is referred to as a tract.] [Also please note, in this context, "dumb" means cannot speak.] --

"[Sad-face] Simon was deaf and dumb. He could not hear or speak. He was very sad. [picture birds chirping around him, insert ::shrug::] Simon's friends asked Jesus to make Simon well and happy again. [cue smiling Jesus]. Jesus touched Simon's ears and tongue. Suddenly Simon could hear the birds and he said to Jesus 'Thank you for being so kind and making me well again.' [picture birds again and happy Simon.] They had a big party and Simon told all the people about his friend Jesus who had made him better. [cue dancing]"

Thoughts?
Simon admittedly was unhappy. I'm gonna go ahead and assume Simon had extremely difficulty communicating (though he did have friends?). Maybe not. Maybe it was purely a hearing thing, not a communication thing. Maybe he took advantage of communication strategies, like writing down his order for the farmer on paper. In any event, there was no sign language. However, he got his daily needs met without spoken language/access to environmental noises (minimal auditory reception). For some reason, it wasn't working for him. And I respect that. He asked to hear because that is what he thought would be in his best interest.

I do NOT respect this as an example of how Jesus is the most miraculous man to walk the land or the most skilled savior. In today's contexts, this is teaching our children an ignorant, outdated perspective of deafness. And the number one complaint I have is that "deaf and dumb" has been stepped on and dumped in the trash decades ago. Stop saying that. This is 2009. Wake up.

Though grandma had good intentions, I'm not sure if she really understand what is going on in Gallaudet's Hearing and Speech Center. And I don't blame her, of course. She was probably given some similar lesson about Jesus and deafness when she was young, too.