A letter from Setfan Vardon from Extremly Home Makeover

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Oak Park essay earns makeover - 08/18/04
http://www.detnews.com/2004/nnsouthfield/0408/17/u05-243891.htm
News from Southfield, Oak Park
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Oak Park essay earns makeover
By Stefan Vardon / Special to The Detroit News
Stefan
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Editor's note: This is the essay Stefan Vardon of Oak Park wrote that
impressed ABC's Home Makeover executives enough to give his family a
house that would be remade before the eyes of a national television
audience.

My name is Stefan. Both my parents are deaf and my only brother is
blind. I have lived this way my entire life.

My mother has taught me sign language ever since I was born. I have
easily communicated with my parents because of her teaching me to
sign.

It has been hard with my brother because he is blind and autistic.

Autistism is a disorder of communication and social interaction. It
also impairs language and causes abnormal behavior.

He is a loving human being. He may act different but he will always
be my loving brother.

My brother is a music maniac. He loves classical music like Mozart
and Beethoven. He also loves Christmas music and is now just getting
into Elvis.

My brother is an awesome reader, too. He types, too; he reads what is
called Braille — raised dots on paper so he can feel it.

We also have to watch my brother all the time because sometimes he
can escape. He doesn't know what's going on. He's in his own little
world.

He never can just have a regular conversation like the majority of
people.

If you were to say "Hi Lance," he would respond back, "Hi Lance"
because he doesn't know how to communicate back to the person.

My parents have been deaf almost their entire life.

In order to communicate, my parents use a TTY. It is like a mini-
computer, and it is their phone.

Thanks to new technology, there is a new way to communicate for the
deaf community. It's called "Soreona." It's like a Web cam for your
TV.

When the phone rings, a light blinks telling my parents the phone is
ringing. If someone is at the door and rings the doorbell, it blinks
slowly.

My parents mainly communicate through e-mail with their friends and
my teachers.

School to me is a place where you become educated and hang out with
your friends.

When I am in school, I am in a hearing world, whereas when I am at
home, I am in a deaf and autistic world.

School is much different than my normal life.

In school, I don't have to use hand movements to communicate to my
friends or be careful in what I say because of my brother.

Sometimes it's hard for me in school to do work. Because my parents
are deaf, it's harder for them to help me with my homework or answer
questions.

All my friends that I bring home at first wonder "what's going on
here?" but then later they understand.

Mostly my friends think it's cool that I have deaf parents and I know
sign language.

In the life of Stefan Vardon, you can see it's much different than
your normal human being.

I always have to sign to my parents in order to communicate and
always have to 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.

Every family is "normal" in their own ways and in my family we are a
normal Autistic, deaf, hearing family.
 
Strange! I received email exactly like this from my American friend 2 days earlier!!
 
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