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Mall Santa Sparks Outrage After Asking Mom If She Can 'Fix' Her Deaf Son's Hearing With Surgery

Koh Mochizuki
Dec. 01, 2021
NZSL With Carter/Facebook

A visit with Santa at a New Zealand shopping center was less than jolly for a mom who brought her deaf child to meet him.

The boy, Carter, sat on a stool placed next to Father Christmas and posed for an obligatory holiday photo. The child then extended his hand as a "thank you" to shake Santa's hand.

But when Carter missed Santa asking him what he wanted for Christmas, his mother signed to him in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).

Carter said he wanted a Gold Iron Man toy, to which Santa leaned over to the mother for clarification.

After relaying to Santa her son's request, the response was not what she was hoping to hear.

Kris Kringle told her:

“Is there nothing you can do to help him with surgery?"

You can watch a video of the exchange here.


The mother replied, "There was no need for that."

Santa was dismissive and asked again:

"Nothing you can do to fix it?"

The mom explained, while also signing to include Carter in the conversation, that "there is nothing to fix. We have sign language!"

Carter kept a pleasant smile on his face as he received a small book from Santa. The boy signed "thank you" and gave Santa a hi-five before going on his merry way.

Mom, however, was less mirthful from the encounter and posted the video on Facebook, where she wrote the following caption.

"This is not the first time I’ve had to have this conversation with Santa."
"It’s awful having to answer these questions in front of Carter - when we are there to talk about his Christmas Wishlist!"
"I kept up my smile but wanted to get [out] of there as quick as possible!"

People praised Carter's mom for how she interacted with Santa, and they also called him out for his audism—which one Twitter user argued was a form of ableism.








Many people called for Santa to have disability awareness training because of his frequent interaction with children–or at least practice common decency.








Others were quick to put Santa on the naughty list.







Kudos to mom for her grace and composure while encountering the mall microaggression.

Now, let's make sure Carter gets the Gold Iron Man toy he wants and deserves.