In a segment of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the host wanted to show some love to communities around America doing good things. This group of around 40 people were named 2019’s Bostonians of the Year after they took the time to learn ASL so they could communicate with a little girl on their street.
In the studio, Kelly welcomes parents Glenda and Raphi Savitz, along with their 3-year-old daughter, Samantha, who was born deaf.
After Kelly greets little Samantha in ASL, Glenda tells Kelly that the couple moved to Newton, Massachusetts, which is about 7 miles west of downtown Boston, when Glenda was in the late stages of pregnancy. The couple immediately found their new community to be incredibly warm and welcoming — people brought them cookies and invited them over for dinners together.
About a week after they had Samantha, they discovered that she was deaf, so they immediately started learning sign language so they could speak to their new addition.
Glenda explains that the inclusiveness in regard to Samantha’s deafness really started when they would take her on walks through their cul-de-sac and neighbors would see them communicating with her in ASL. Then, four women who lived at the end of their street signed up for an adult education course in ASL so they could learn the language and it just snowballed from there.
“I had no idea how the community would come together to support us,” Glenda explains.
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The couple explains how thankful they feel to their community because after they found out that Samantha is deaf, they worried she would grow up feeling somewhat isolated and different, but those feelings melted away when her family was so fully embraced.
To learn more about this amazing community, and to see little Samantha fully enjoy herself on the set of The Kelly Clarkson Show, check out the full video.
