I just got a little annoyed because of how her daughter's deafness was play off of as much as it was. She is partially deaf, not mentally stunted. Not the story of a lifetime. Just my opinion, and that's the last I'll comment on this subject.
But we don't know that though - with Hydrocephalus, I would bet 80% that she is actually mentally stunted. There's no way you have that heavy pressure on the brain and function normally. I can understand the mother not mentioning that though because sometimes, one part of the condition is more painful to express and talk about than the others. I would imagine that for any parent it's easier to say "my child is partially deaf" and stop there rather than "my child is partially deaf, and she's pretty slow too. she cannot talk or read straight, and she cannot go to a normal school because of that." Sometimes, the less details to talk about, the less painful it is.
I'm not sure how great she will be come Hollywood rounds and with all the bad or marginal talent all filtered out. But if she goes far, I hope we don't have to hear about it every single week. Just as I don't want to hear every week about that other kid supposed to be in a wheelchair for life, or the kid whose family lives in a shelter, or all other sob stories. For me, when I hear it once, it's enough. It's vain to hope anyway that Idol go back to its roots (in Season 1 and 2) and just focus on singing, and singing alone. If Kelly Clarkson had joined Idol in the later seasons, everyone would probably know that she had a heck of a sob story too.