In a photo posted on Facebook, Casey Spelman is seen going out of her way to help a blind man catch a cab after watching a baseball game.
Spelman, a Carmel native and speech language pathologist at the Indiana School for the Deaf, said she saw the man struggling to get cab drivers’ attention and walked over to assist him.
“I just happened to see this man standing on the curb and he was blind, and I went over and asked him if he needed help hailing a cab and he said yes, and I got him a cab and he went home,” she said.
Spelman also said that she didn’t know that anyone was watching or, let alone, taking a photo. Witness Ryan Hamilton was on a rooftop near Wrigley Field when he captured a few images of the event. The blind man was then approached by 26-year-old Spelman, who hailed a cab for him.
Hamilton thought that it would be a while before the blind man could get a cab because there were so many people around.
The blind man was Yusef Dale, an assistant US attorney in Chicago.
Spelman approached Dale and asked if she could help him. He said yes and even joked that she sounded pretty which is why the cab may stop for her before him. Eventually, they found a cab and before Dale got in, he thanked Spelman with a hug.
She said she did what anyone could have done. “Treat people as people,” she added. “Whether they are different from you, whether they have a disability. Just remember that we are all people, and we need to look out for each other. The world would be a better place if people did that every day.”
Spelman doesn’t consider herself a hero, and all she wants is for her viral act to serve as a positive example for others.
God bless this young lady for her kindness and humility.