If you don't live with a disability, you may not appreciate how crucial and meaningful community and accessibility are — but one viral TikTok is demonstrating it perfectly.
Chrissy Marshall, a 19-year-old content creator in Los Angeles, was born hard of hearing and became profoundly deaf in high school. Now, she makes content on YouTube and TikTok about her disability and American Sign Language.
One of those videos captures a "special" day she had recently. In the TikTok video, Marshall, looking happy and excited, recounts her day of encountering three people who signed to her in ASL.
"Oh my god. Today has been crazy," she says and signs in the video. "Today I went to three places and all three people signed."
She describes stopping at the bank, where a teller signed with her, then at Starbucks, where a deaf barista signed, and then she grabbed a pretzel, where the worker also signed.
"Everyone signed! It was like a perfect world. It's like a utopia."
The TikTok was reuploaded to Twitter, where it went viral.
look what being inclusive does for people. im fucking crying man
"The sun was shining, people were signing, and everything felt so fluid," Marshall told BuzzFeed News in an interview. "I thought I was being pranked or something, like cameras were going to pop out and ask about my day."
"The area has a big deaf community," she added, "and I’m glad and inspired to see the impact it’s had on the greater community as a whole."
The video is making other people happy too, and it's encouraging them to learn ASL.
@latetadelpan @SoyelCap My heart literally burst you can see how happy she is because of it. I hope I can learn ASL
@latetadelpan their sweet little "that was cool" im cryign i love u the way they got so exiexted at the end im..".,,,,
@latetadelpan I wish I had finished learning sign language. I started as a kid but then stop. I gonna restart again though. This inspired me. This made me feel so happy seeing how happy and excited she felt. If I could spread that feeling to others, i'd do it in a fucking heartbeat! ❤
Marshall said her online platform has given her the opportunity to spread awareness about disability rights, ASL, and deafness.
Her other videos cover what it's like to be deaf. She also posts fun ones like ASL versions of songs.
"I’m so glad it’s just more people I get the opportunity to educate and inspire to be part of the community," said Marshall. "I am a huge advocate for people learning ASL, and I’m happy and grateful so many people were inspired to do so."