Dr. Daltrey finally came into their room and announced the good news of their baby boy having entered the world. However, there was some news that wasn’t so good. The baby was examined and it was discovered he had deficiencies in two of the sensory inputs.
The doctor said, “This is a serious detriment to your son’s ability to learn. He has no visual or auditory capabilities and his communication skills will be severely limited throughout his life, as he is incapable of speaking. You may want to consider having him institutionalized.”
That information hit the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Townshend, like a ton of bricks.Upon leaving the hospital, Pete and his wife, Susan, decided not to have him institutionalized and they were determined to do everything they could to give their son,Tommy, a full, as possible, life and raise him as best they could.
Years later, one Saturday Pete and Tommy were checking out yard sales together when Pete spotted an old arcade game called a pinball machine sitting under a tree. After a short negotiations with the owner, They loaded it in the back of their truck and off they went. This brought back all kinds of pleasant memories for Pete because he was playing pinball at the local arcade when he first met Susan. Eighteen months later they were married.
Pete was somewhat surprised that the machine actually worked when he plugged it in. He had to do some minor repairs like replace the leveling legs and a couple of light bulbs and lubricate the flippers, but then it was ready.
Pete began honing the skills he had lost due to the hiatus of several years away from the machine.
He spent as much time as he could on it when one evening he noticed Tommy’s interest in it.
“ How could that be?” Pete thought,” Tommy has no visual or auditory sensations that would attract him to it. Perhaps it has something to do with vibrations. “
Whatever it was, it was strong. It was almost like Tommy was becoming addicted to it. In one week ‘s timeTommy was out playing his dad.
Several months later Pete decided to enter Tommy into the national “ Pinball Wizard” Tournament just for fun. He was shocked when Tommy made it to the final playoff with last year’s champion, Keith Moon. It was a huge upset.
A reporter went to Tommy to get a comment. Obviously Tommy had none. The reporter then went to Keith for a statement. Keith was dazed and confused ( Hey, how did Led Zeppelin get in here?).
Keith was so shocked, when he handed the trophy over to Tommy all he could say, with the utmost respect, was, “ That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pin ball.”
The moral of the story : Never underestimate the sensory challenged.