pardon me but its called having a "special need", being a friend or frat bro. of somone who is deaf or disabled, and being the parent of a handycapped child is quite a huge gap in expierence sir, having no parental connection your relatoinship with your friends are quite a bit different.
it is not pandering to congratulate someone who is trying to make a difference in someones life, who may or may not have dificulty partisipating in RC aircraft.

I personally thought it was a insitfull way of teaching a person who is deaf to fly while allowing them some independence.
deaf people are not stupid but to think they don't somtimes need a hand partisipating is.
A little history for all, they thought Hellen Keller was hopless untill a insiteful woman discovered how to comunicate with her through trial and error.