A Sound Resolution
by Carol Preston
Murphy’s law–“if anything can go wrong it will”–was working overtime for Andrew Williams, 23. The Special Olympics International Global Messenger from Melbourne, Australia, was about to depart for the 2007 World Summer Games when his only hearing aid broke.
Williams was able to be re-fitted for a new aid, but it would not be ready until he returned home to Australia. So he shrugged his shoulders, packed his bags and left for Shanghai, resigned to navigating the noise of Shanghai without his much needed aid.
Williams is among 12 Special Olympics International Global Messengers—spokespersons for the movement—who attended the 2007 World Games to speak at many non-competition events. He carries himself with great confidence as he engages audiences around the world about his experience with Special Olympics. However, without his hearing aid, he has great difficulty hearing in noisy environments, e.g., isolating sounds to hold one-on-one conversations and greeting people, especially the athletes. Imagine Williams’ challenge without that precious aid. During a pre-Games event, he resorted to lip-reading to handle two Chinese masters of ceremony and a wire feeding sound into his ear. It was going to be a long two weeks.
Enter the Special Olympics Healthy Hearing program. On the second day of competition, Williams participated in a discussion about a centralized health database for athletes. The goal is for an athlete’s information to be available in a single location for any health provider to access anytime. Williams commented that had the centralized database been a reality, he might have been able to have a new hearing aid made immediately.
In the audience was Boise, Idaho, audiologist and professor, Mel Miller. As soon as Miller heard William’s story, he walked up to him with a message of his own: The Healthy Hearing team in the next tent can help. Was Williams interested? You bet he was. He accompanied Professor Miller to the Healthy Hearing venue, where Williams was tested and fitted with a new hearing aid. The entire process took about 30 minutes.
“This is what the Healthy Hearing program is all about,” said Dr. Gilbert Herer, Senior Global Advisor and founder of the Healthy Hearing program. “Andy’s job is to communicate with the public. If he can hear better, he becomes a better communicator.”
Williams is a public face and voice of Special Olympics. But the first-class care he received through the Healthy Hearing program is not unique. Every athlete who attended the World Games and visited the Healthy Athletes tent received the same attention. At least this time for Andy Williams, Murphy’s Law didn’t prevail.
