Distress gesture created in Toronto credited with saving American girl’s life

A one-handed gesture created in Toronto that signals someone is in distress is being credited for possibly saving a life nearly one thousand kilometres away.

This week, a missing girl from North Carolina, travelling through Kentucky in a car with her alleged kidnapper, flashed the hand signal to others on the road. A driver recognized it from the social media platform TikTok and called police, leading to her rescue.

“Had there not been someone out there [who] knew how to interpret what she was doing, then who knows? We might not have had a good resolution on this,” said Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, the spokesman for the Laurel County sheriff’s office.

The signal was invented by the Canadian Women’s Foundation as a way for people trapped inside violent homes during the coronavirus lockdown to silently indicate over a video call that they are at risk of abuse.

The organization’s vice president of philanthropy Suzanne Duncan explained to CityNews, if you see someone using the hand signal, think about the context of how that ask for help is being made.

“It might be most appropriate to call police and in this situation in Kentucky, it was,” she said. “Mostly we recommend that you check in with that person…Let them know that you’ve seen this, let them know that you’re there, and let them know you can help point them to resources.”

Toronto advertising agency Juniper Park/TBWA worked on the campaign with the Women’s Foundation. Chief Creative Officer Graham Lang said lots of research went into coming up with the right gesture to not cause confusion across languages and cultures.

“There was always an opportunity for perpetrators to know about the signal,” said Lang. But with abusers possibly monitoring phone calls and texts, the most important thing was that the sign was untraceable.

Lang told CityNews the campaign went viral on TikTok organically, becoming a global way to ask for help.

“It is morphing and developing into something broader than what it was originally intended for,” said Lang. “But the essence of what it is, a non-verbal way to say I need help, I am trapped, and that’s the relevance of tucking your thumb and trapping your thumb…that has travelled beyond the pandemic and we’re seeing it being used in real life.”

The creators know of other cases in Canada, the U.S. and even as far away as Turkey where the Signal for Help was a useful tool for victims.

Duncan said a Turkey-based YouTuber uploaded a video she told her more than 5 million subscribers would be her last. During the video, she flashed the sign. Many of her fans knew what it meant and alerted Turkish authorities, who later confirmed she was safe.

Here in Canada, a survey done by the Women’s Foundation last year found one in three people know about the Signal for Help or have seen it being used.

In Kentucky, Deputy Acciardo said it’s not clear how many motorists thought the abducted girl was simply waving. After all, police too didn’t know what the signal was.

“We weren’t aware and our 911 center was not aware. We definitely are now.”

Lang said the campaign wouldn’t have been so successful without people sharing it.

“Institutionalizing it, making it a part of culture and then reinforcing it, is really the way you get it to be universally known.”