ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – John Barone has been volunteering at the Space Coast Center for Independent Living for 18 years.
Barone is hard of hearing and has made it his mission to help others with hearing disabilities. The center helps Brevard residents with disabilities find the services to assist them.
The Rockledge office is a distribution point for special telephones that help the deaf, hard of hearing and speech impaired.
Barone arrives every Tuesday and Wednesday to help up to eight clients a day. He sits surrounded by phones of all shapes and sizes. Each one with unique features to help people on all levels of the hearing spectrum.
"I like it. It gives me the satisfaction of helping people, and it helps me, too," Barone says. "People get emotional when they find something they can use."
Barone is nearly deaf himself. He began losing his hearing years ago. and is now using his experience and career as an electronics tech to become an expert in amplified and specialized phones.
"I've been there. I know where the problems are, and it's important for people to make their own phone calls, especially if they live alone," he said.
He was nominated for the News 6 Getting Results Award by Independent Living Coordinator, Carlos Bonilla.
"John's dedication to people with hearing disabilities is a great example of a person with a disability that gives back to the community," Bonilla said. "I have seen all the smiles that come out of John's office every Tuesday and Wednesday. It's magic when these people are able to hear a voice on the phone. It's as if they have been released."