Alexis Morris, a 16-year-old with dyslexia, was doing what most teenagers do at her age – learning how to drive for the first time. She was being taught by her mother, Amanda Morris, and things were going well, but her dyslexia was holding her back in one major way – she struggled to tell her left from her right.
Dyslexia is a neurobiological learning disability characterized by ‘difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities,’ according to the International Dyslexia Association. While many dyslexics struggle to read, Alexis struggles to differentiate her right from her left.
Dyslexia affects up to 20% of the world's population? What's more concerning is that many with dyslexia don't receive a diagnosis until later in life, if at all. Early screening & evidence-based interventions and instruction are essential! #Dyslexia pic.twitter.com/Y6V2Zxd48r
— Melanie Brethour (@melbrethour) April 13, 2023
To counter this problem, Alexis – who was diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade – would frequently draw an ‘L’ on her left hand and an ‘R’ on her right hand. While this certainly did the trick, especially while learning how to drive a vehicle, Alexis has always wanted a more permanent solution – such as a tattoo.
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After consulting with her mother about the tattoo idea, they agreed that it was time. Amanda started to do her research and called various local tattoo parlors for a quote. Unfortunately, most of them were charging $100 to $150 for a tattoo as simple as the one Alexis wanted – which Amanda found absolutely ridiculous.
That’s when she came across Ambitious Ink, a tattoo shop in Frankfort, Kentucky – roughly 30 miles west of Lexington, Kentucky. She wrote the owner, Scotty Jr. Thompson, a message asking for a quote:
With full parental consent, Alexis was legally able to get a tattoo in the state of Kentucky at 16.
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 13, 2023
Scotty Jr. Thompson tells https://t.co/LaKO1WBr7r he didn't think twice about offering the tattoos for free. https://t.co/Uc149HtbF7
“I seen that you do tattoos, my daughter is 16 and has severe dyslexia and can’t tell her left from her right, so she’s wanting just a small L on left hand and a small R on her right,” Morris wrote to Thompson. “I’m being quoted $100 – $150 every where I call. How much would you do this for?” Amanda wrote.
His response was quick and to the point, but took Amanda by surprise. “How bout free,” he wrote back. While Amanda was quick to accept, she offered to at least pay him ‘a little something’ for his time. It didn’t take long before Alexis and Amanda were in Scotty’s shop to get the tattoo – though Alexis was nervous.
“When we got there my daughter was nervous, but Scotty was incredible. He walked her through everything he was going to do step-by-step and he even asked her many times if she was sure that’s what she wanted,” Amanda said in an interview with TODAY.
“While tattooing her, Scotty kept asking if she was OK and if she liked it,” Morris says. “We can’t say enough good things about Scotty and the environment.”
Scotty Thompson Wanted to Help Alexis With Her Dyslexia
Talking to TODAY, Scotty Thompson said he knew he was going to give Alexis a free tattoo the second he read Amanda’s message. “I grew up not having 200 extra dollars to spend on a tattoo, so when I saw her mother say she just got her permit and had trouble telling difference, I knew I was going to just give it to her.”
His good deed has bode well for him and his tattoo shop. The story has gone viral and he has received plenty of new customers as a result – most of which tell him they came to his shop because of his good deed. It also resulted in quite a review from Amanda – who recommended the shop on Facebook.
“This right here is why I love tattooing, forget the money, forget the popularity, THIS right here is why god blessed me [with] this skill,” he wrote on Facebook – adding his distaste for all the other artists who were going to charge Amanda $100-$150. “I’ll do it for free fifty how bout that,” he continued.
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Now that Alexis has her tattoos, she’ll have a much easier time telling her left from her right and it’ll help her master the art of driving a car – we can only hope that she’ll have her driver’s license soon!