When LynnMarie Rink and her son, James, got to the Nashville Apple Store to replace his broken iPad last week, they weren’t expecting anything unusual. Of course, for James and his mom, atypical is their way of life.
James has Down syndrome and autism, and uses his iPad to communicate. When he got to the Apple Store last Thursday, he got excited at something out in the mall and ran out of the store at top speed. Unfortunately, there was a big glass wall instead of a door in front of him, and he ran into it face first, causing a little scene with tears and a fat lip.
It was just then that an Apple Store employee came up and offered to help them get their new iPad — and did something amazingly gracious.
When Andrew Wall realized what had happened, the Apple employee simply asked, “What can I do for you?”
“Well, we actually came here today to buy an iPad which was donated to James, but if we’re going to proceed would you be willing to sell it to us and set it up … down here on the floor?” Rink said, describing the experience on Facebook.
Wall sat right down there on the floor with the two customers and helped James set up his iPad.
Special educators call this “meeting the person where they are,” and it applies to any number of situations where a child needs some extra help. The employee at the Apple Store, located in The Mall at Green Hills, did this perhaps on instinct. But his behavior perfectly matched James and his mom’s needs with Apple’s commitment to its customers.
James got his first iPad when he was about 3, and it’s become a crucial for him, according to his mom.
“It turned out to be more than a device to watch videos,” writes Rink on her Facebook page. “It became a way to help James communicate. Because James was born with Down Syndrome, and at six-years-old was diagnosed with Autism, we use his iPad everyday as a learning tool.”
Imagine not being able to communicate with words, and running full force into a glass wall that you didn’t see, and then some retail clerk expecting you to get up and stand at an iPad set up table. Wall did the right thing, meeting James right where he was, on the floor.
It’s stories like this that remind me that people can be pretty great, given the chance.
Source: LynnMarie Rink
Via: Love What Matters
