HAPPY DEAF MUTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19799, 21 November 1927, Page 10

HAPPY DEAF MUTES.

DEVELOPMENT OF FACULTIES / WIDE ENJOYMENT IN LIFE V UNIQUE WEDDING PLANNED. Deafness and dumbness are often called afflictions; but the educated#deafmute is firm on the point that this is one of the misconceptions of oversympathetic hearing and talking people. For, like the blind, the deaf-mutes have developed sensitive faculties dormant in those normal persons possessed of the five senses. Within a fortnight a unique wedding will be solemnised between two happy deaf-mutes. . Happy deaf-mutes! To the incredulous the statement is absurd. The curious ask: "However can deaf and dumb people be happy ? How can they enjoy life if they cannot hear and are unable to speak 1" The answer is that these people are as happy as those with the powers of speech and sound. Keen-sighted and highly sensitive, they enjoy the English arid foreign languages, not only by reading, but also by speech—a silent speech universally known as lip-reading. Perhaps they are greater admirers of art and beauty than most persons who pity them because of their so-called afflictions. As good citizens no distinction can be drawn between them and the tens of thousands of healthy,, normal New Zealanders, for in their special educational institutions they are taught many things which they assimilate with remarkable rapidity. They prove inquiring students, with an analytic turn of mind, and become clever and industrious, often outstripping their pitying fellow-men in various spheres of employment. They enjoy the sports of the community and, if they so desire, can become rival exponents of the latest Charleston. And they love with the same affection and whisper the same old, old story in their soundless tongue. Very aptly will this be proved at the close of the month, when, quietly, two such loving young people will be married in a picturesque little church 011 a hillside not a mile from hustling Queen Street. This unique little ceremony will, it is understood, be the first of its kind .to bo celebrated in Auckland. Neither one of the couple was born deaf or dumb. Childhood accidents were responsible for depriving them of these two senses. Yet, happily, they work in this metropolis, filling their positions with success and characteristic thoroughness. .Again, the curious will question: "How will they take the wedding vows ?" But the kindly attention of the vicar who will solemnise the marriage has acquainted them of the service and its procedure. Reading his lips with uneering accuracy, they will both utter and write their replies.