Chance is a funny thing. One day, a man named Tim Cook (64) and a young girl Clara Daly (15) happened to be on the same flight to Portland, Oregon. Clara was with her mother, but Tim was alone.
Traveling alone is nothing new, but there’s a good reason why Tim’s solo trip was unusual. Tim is both blind and deaf. Airline staff was unable to communicate with him, not able to assess what his needs were. That’s when they made an announcement asking if any passengers on board knew sign language.
This is where fifteen-year-old Clara comes in. It turns out that after having a fascination with sign language since childhood, she had been studying American Sign Language (ASL) for a year.
She immediately came forward and spelled out words in ASL on Tim’s palm. Fellow passengers were struck by how Tim came alive now that he was able to communicate, and how Clara’s joy at being able to help was there for all to see.
Fellow passenger Lynette Scriber posted about the encounter on Facebook, and in no time, the post was shared over 700,000 times. The good news story has now spread around the globe.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkfC0WPBIC4/?tagged=claradaly
