Acts of Kindness
Teen Attends To Blind-Deaf Stranger During 6-Hour Flight
Earlier last week, Tim Cook, a blind and deaf man, was alone on an Alaska Airlines flight after visiting his sister in Boston. The flight attendants were doing everything they could to communicate with him, but they knew they needed help...
Britanie Leclair
06.25.18

Teenagers these days can get a bad rap from the older generations, but thankfully, there are some true gems among us.

Earlier last week, Tim Cook, a blind and deaf man, was on an Alaska Airlines flight home from visiting his sister in Boston.

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Alaska Airlines Blog
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Alaska Airlines Blog

When he boarded, the flight attendants tried to help him— but because none of the employees knew sign language, they weren’t having much luck.

Lynette Scriber, a fellow passenger on Tim’s fight, explained in a Facebook post: “I saw this gentleman, Tim, in Boston’s Logan airport and the sister he’d been visiting. It appeared he was both deaf and blind.”

“The flight attendants sincerely wanted to assist him but had no way to communicate…. the flight attendants were talking among themselves and someone suggested paging to see if anyone board knew sign language.”

Luckily, that’s when 15-year-old Clara Daly stepped in.

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Video Screenshot

Clara was traveling with her mother Jane on the same flight as Tim. The 15-year-old told CNN she had “always been fascinated with sign language” and had started studying it last year to help her with her dyslexia.

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Video Screenshot
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Video Screenshot

When the flight attendants asked for someone who could help them communicate with Tim, the young girl immediately volunteered.

For the entire 6-hour flight, Clara volunteered her skills to the blind and deaf man— signing letters into each other’s hands so they could communicate.

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“I went to [Tim] a total of three times,” she told CNN.

“Once to get him water, another to tell him the time, and the last hour of the flight just to talk to him.”

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Video Screenshot
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Video Screenshot

Fellow passenger Lynette described the scene in her Facebook post, writing: “For the rest of the flight [Clara] attended to Tim and made sure his needs were met… He was able to ‘read’ her signing and they carried on an animated conversation.”

“We talked about our family in Massachusetts and he asked me about my plans for my future,” the girl told CNN.

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Lynette Scriber/Facebook
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Lynette Scriber/Facebook

Seeing Clara so selflessly help Tim inspired Lynette to take a picture.

Since being uploaded to Facebook five days ago, the photo has been shared more than half a million times.

“I don’t know when I’ve ever seen so many people rally to take care of another human being,” wrote Lynette.

“I can’t say enough about this beautiful young woman named Clara who didn’t think twice about helping her fellow passenger.”

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People were enamored by Clara’s kind gestures and the internet has been singing her praises.

“This young lady is a truly inspirational teen! I hope the airline shows their appreciation in an amazing way!”

“If we only had more of this thinking of someone else instead of only our self.”

“Thank you for sharing. There are still angels around us.”

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