Mall Santa asks mother of Deaf boy about surgery to “fix it”
There is a viral video of a Santa Claus in a mall in New Zealand asking the mother of a Deaf boy named Carter on whether he needed surgery to “fix it.” I will show you the video clip and then an interview with the parents.
[Video clip, CREDIT: Facebook/NZSL with Carter]
So, you can see that Santa is not focused on Carter’s wish for a gold Ironman but instead asks the mother about surgery and fixing his deafness, and you can see that the mother responds that there is nothing to fix because they have sign language.
The parents’ names are Oliver and Bridget Ferguson. Oliver is Deaf and Bridget is hearing. Oliver said he was the one who was filming and he could tell that something was not right.
Oliver Ferguson:
Something didn’t feel right when I was filming them. I could see my wife’s signing change and Santa’s attention turned away from Carter and towards Bridget. They were talking about something but I wasn’t sure what about. Something didn’t feel right.
When the visit was over we moved to a café for a coffee and that is where Bridget told me what the conversation was about and the words he had used. I felt really uneasy about it, especially for Carter.
BRIDGET:
My priority throughout that experience was my son. I wanted him to have a positive Christmas experience. So while I was interpreting about his wish for a Gold Ironman – I was a little caught off guard when Santa asked me the questions about surgery and ‘fixing him’. My ‘Interpreter brain’ made the decision not to interpret those questions to Carter. My priority was for him to have a positive Christmas experience – I didn’t want to shatter that for him by telling him what Santa had said about him. It wasn’t the right time or place.
I chose not to confront Santa in that moment, also because again it wasn’t the right time or place and there was a queue of families waiting for their turn. I didn’t want to do that in public and embarrass Carter. It wasn’t the right time or place.
However the next day I did contact the Mall management and let them know what had happened. They responded and apologized and said they will inform the company that “Santa” works for. They were very apologetic about the situation.
[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://www.convorelay.com/download ]
Alex: I asked the parents about what they think it means when they see this kind of remark from Santa about deaf people?
BRIDGET:
As a hearing parent of three children, 2 of whom are Deaf we are used to remarks like this. Not just from Santa but from many hearing people who don’t know better – comments like ‘oh he should have a cochlear implant’ or ‘oh he should have speech therapy’ there are lots of ‘should be’ comments from hearing people.
I wanted to show parents through this video that we can respond in a positive and confident manner, with pride about our Deaf children’s use of Sign Language, NZSL.
I want to show parents you can celebrate and be proud of your child’s Sign Language.
That was one of my aims with this video.
OLIVER:
We have been advocating for change for 20 years in the Deaf Education sector and community in general. We have seen change over time, but this situation has shown that we still need to educate people. We need to approach it with a positive outlook. From this the Mall will now follow up on the situation. So hopefully that will improve things for the future.
I think approaching it with positivity can change things for the future.
Alex:
Thank you, Oliver and Bridget, for sharing. I see that their goal for posting the video was not to “shame” Santa or the mall, but to show an example of how to keep positive in situations where people show their ignorance or insensitivity about deaf people. The parents said they’ve received messages from people all over the world who thanked them for showing how they can respond in a positive way.
You can follow the family’s page on Facebook, “NZSL With Carter.”
https://www.facebook.com/NZSLwithCarter/videos/1033276463909270/