While traveling from Boston to Portland, Oregon, last week, Clara Daly, 15, used her knowledge of American Sign Language to make the flight easier for a fellow passenger.
Tim Cook, 64, is blind and deaf, and was unable to communicate with the flight attendants. They asked if anyone on board knew ASL, and Daly, who took classes for a year, volunteered to help. She signed letters into his hand, first asking, "Are you okay?" They communicated that way throughout the flight, with Cook telling Daly about the sister he had been visiting in Boston and Daly telling him about her life in California.
Fellow passenger Lynette Scribner was impressed by Daly, and said her assistance helped reduce Cook's frustration. "You could see him light up," she told The New York Times. Scribner took a photo of the pair and shared what she saw on Facebook, and the post has been liked and shared hundreds of thousands of times. Cook, who lost his hearing and sight as an adult, told KGW he is used to feeling isolated, and was "very moved" by Daly's act of kindness.