By Robin Clowers, BC-HIS
Bill and Tani Austin’s philanthropic accomplishments are legendary, so much so that many of us take their good works for granted—until it happens in our own backyard.
We at IHS headquarters were fortunate to experience such an event when ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featured an Oak Park, Michigan home on November 7. The design team transformed the Vardons’ ordinary 980-square-foot house into a dream home outfitted with the latest communications and safety devices for people with hearing loss. Starkey Hearing Foundation founder William F. Austin and Academy Award—winning actress Marlee Matlin were among the well-wishers who welcomed the Vardon family home from a week-long, all expenses paid, vacation to a completely remodeled home equipped with the latest in assisted-living technology.
The Vardons’ story is remarkable, to say the least. Judy and Larry Vardon can’t hear their 12-year-old son, Lance, who is both blind and autistic. And Lance can’t see his parents using sign language. This is not just a matter of inconvenience; Lance’s safety is also a concern, for sometimes Lance has found the house keys and let himself out in the middle of the night without his parents’ hearing him leave. Communication within the family fell on the very broad shoulders of 14-year-old Stefan Vardon, who serves as the “family translator.”
Judy volunteers with blind and deaf children teaching Braille and sign language, while Larry is a welder for a car manufacturer who, in his free time, fixes his neighbors’ cars too, for free and without a garage to work in. Stefan, a nature lover, plays football in high school and is a car fanatic. Lance is a musical prodigy who likes Elvis, Beethoven and Mozart, as well as horseback riding.
While the challenges may have seemed insurmountable, the design team not only found a way to make the family safe, but also designed a home so that the family could communicate with each other—a real necessity for when Stefan leaves for college in a few years. Their story touched the heart of a nation.
In an essay that Stefan had written—and which Judy included in the application for the show—he said, “I always have to sign to my parents in order to communicate, and always talk nicely to my brother for him to understand. I am so used to this life, it’s just that sometimes I wish I had a normal family and didn’t live this way. But the next day I am so happy that I have a loving family that treats me nice and loves me.”
The show’s host,Ty Pennington, sought Matlin’s help because her experience as a deaf woman living in a hearing world helped the team understand the family’s communication needs. Pennington explained that Larry works 70 hours a week to make ends meet and they really needed help if Stefan was going to see his dreams come true and attend college. Matlin said she knew just the person to make Stefan’s dreams a reality. Without hesitation, Bill and Tani Austin stepped up to meet the challenge. During the “reveal,” Austin presented Stefan with a $50,000 college scholarship check from the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
And there’s more. Matlin sat with Stefan’s mother, Judy, while she had her hearing tested for the first time in 20 years. Amazingly, Judy discovered she has residual hearing and was a candidate for hearing instruments. Austin and his Foundation team fit Judy in September and are scheduled to fit Larry in the coming weeks. ABC plans to air a follow-up episode highlighting both fittings in late December (check ABC.com for date and time).
So thanks to Bill and Tani and to everyone who makes the good works of the Starkey Hearing Foundation possible. Your gift to young Stefan Vardon will be returned 100-fold!
To learn more about the Starkey Hearing Foundation, visit www.sotheworldmayhear.org. THP
