Young Man’s Selfless Gesture Toward a Special-needs Person on a Crowded Bus Goes Viral

Illustration - Dmitri Ma/Shutterstock

From the archives: This story was last updated in September 2019.

A Canadian student’s bus ride turned him into an internet hero after he extended a small but meaningful act of kindness to a stranger.

Godfrey Coutto, a then-22-year-old student in Hamilton, Ontario, was snapped holding hands with a man on a local bus by a fellow commuter. The photo was later posted on the Facebook page “Only In Hamilton” on Oct. 6, 2015, and was shared by thousands after people realized what Coutto and his fellow commuter were doing.

“I didn’t know if u can post this,” read the caption, “but I would liking [sic] to say thank you to the guy who was seating beside a special needs gentleman. He allowed him to hold his hand, and find comfort well in a packed bus.”

“It make [sic] my day when I see stuff like that,” he further added.

As it turned out, Coutto was riding the bus home from a burrito joint in the city. A man he'd never met, sitting near the front of the packed bus, extended his hand and wanted to shake Coutto’s. Feeling a little awkward at first, the McMaster University student nonetheless took the stranger’s hand. His name was Robert.

“He kept holding my hand,” Coutto told the Huffington Post Canada in 2015. “I thought I was getting pranked at first, but he just needed comfort.”

Illustration - Pau Casals/Unsplash

Robert sat down next to his new friend and held on tight for the duration of the 30-minute bus ride. Coutto said that Robert leaned on him, hugged him, and also kissed his hands, clearly finding comfort in Coutto’s presence on the bus.

“I just allowed it, like what am I going to do?” Coutto said. “Sometimes you just have to be selfless and put someone else’s needs above yours.”

Illustration - Niko Lienata/Unsplash

Robert’s sister-in-law, Danette Trainor Kulchar, commented on the touching photo in order to share her family’s gratitude to the youngster. “Kudos to this kind-hearted guy,” she began. “Bobby is my brother-in-law. He is the most remarkable person that anyone could ever meet.”

“If you do happen to be blessed in getting a hug,” Kulchar continued, “a handshake, a prop, you will walk away saying ‘wow’ with a great big smile on your face.”

Robert was born with cerebral palsy, is deaf, unable to speak, and has autism. Kulchar explained that Robert, tragically, was also in a head-on collision that left him with brain damage and a broken neck.

“He can operate a computer for looking up things that he likes, loves YouTube, [and] is a human GPS, hence his love of traveling the bus and train system,” Robert’s sister-in-law shared, adding context to Robert’s solo bus journey.

“This picture is so beautiful because it speaks volumes on many levels,” she added, “from a kind person offering his heart, to a person seeking a kind heart and hand.”

Kulchar hopes that sharing Robert and Coutto’s photo could help raise visibility for people with special needs in the community. “The only thing that we would like to see come from this are many more doors opened for the disabled,” she wrote, “whether it be acceptance, more programs, funding, and just anything that could be a benefit.”

If you were on a busy bus and a stranger reached out to hold your hand, what would you do?