I would explain to Simon that you can be Deaf and live an average life in fact most Deaf people do. That saying that is like saying to someone that because they speak a different language (let's take french for example) that just because they speak French (and born there) doesnt mean theyre french. It just simply doesn't make sense. This is a perfect example of the dangers of a single story. If you know one story from one place of the world that is the only perspective you have of that place. I feel this applies in this situation.