Skip to main content

Toronto Restaurant for the Deaf and the Hearing

By

There's the new restaurant in Toronto that opened recently. SIGNS is a restaurant where all the wait staff and most of the kitchen staff are hearing-impaired. In this unique restaurant, the customers are asked to use American sign language to order their meal.

Not only does it give deaf people new career opportunities, but it gives hearing people a unique real-world experience with disability.

I've never been one who liked labels on my restaurants or parking spaces, but this is a unique situation because the workers are setting the stage rather than the customers.

I hope it becomes a massive success. Imagine if there were a restaurant or two in every city focused on the deaf experience.

Could this be taken a step forward with other businesses designed around the disabled worker? Granted, not every business would be conducive. A restaurant full of wheelchairs would get pretty crowded pretty quickly. I'm not sure I'd want a photo studio run by blind people.

But, imagine, retail stores, bowling alleys, or even web designing marketing consultants!

By catering to this unique worker demographic, you'd likely have much lower turnover. In the restaurant business, your serving staff and kitchen staff are one of your biggest expenses and there is rapid turnover that directly impacts profitability.

As long as the customers keep coming, it could be one of the most efficient and profitable restaurants in town.

SIGNS on Facebook
Labels:
Location: 558 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4Y, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Personal Space: an invisible disability

By
The worst part about being disabled for me may surprise you.  In a previous post I invited you to share your thoughts about disability. (See:  The Worst Part of Being Disabled)

I face numerous frustrating challenges on a daily basis. I'm constantly dependent on others. I need help bathing and dressing. I can't drive, cook, hold a book or feed myself. I rely on family, employees, technology and the goodwill of others. Some days it's frustrating, but I've learned through experience how to manage all this help.

Other frustrations are attitudinal barriers. Today I live very comfortably and have a high family income. I'm an entrepreneur, but not because of my unquenchable desire to build businesses, but because very few companies would be willing to give me a job. I made the decision more than 15 years ago that I could build a business easier than I could find a job, so that's what I did.

My single biggest frustration however isn't getting the help I need or overco…
10 comments
Go! »

The Worst Part of Being Disabled

By
The central character of my novel is a wheelchair user. I know that's no big surprise.

It's important to me, however, that I'm able to relate the experience of severe disability to a universal audience. I want to make sure the character expresses his worldview in a powerful way.

For example, you can close your eyes, but that doesn't help you truly understand blindness.

Every so often I hear about some sociology professor who gives everyone a disability for a day. People come up to me and tell me how they learned to understand my limitations and frustrations because they borrowed a wheelchair and went to the mall.  If they want to understand my frustrations, they should borrow a wheelchair and go to a job interview.

Whether you have been disabled your entire life, or spent your life in perfect physical condition, I want to get your perceptions on true disability.

What do you feel is the worst part about being disabled? Please be very specific. You can choose any disability, …
11 comments
Go! »

Endangered Gorilla Killed after Child Falls into Habitat

By
One of this week’s trending topics on Facebook and twitter was a tragic story. A small boy fell into the gorilla habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo. Minutes later the western lowlands gorilla, a critically endangered species, was shot and killed by zoo personnel.
A tragic story has been made even more tragic through misinformation and misguided opinion on social media.
Here are six ways that Facebook and twitter users made the situation worse.
It’s the mother’s fault!
I’m a father of 14-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. I don’t know a single father or mother that has never in their lives lost sight of their three-year-old. I compare it to a trip to Walmart. You’ll see a toddler screaming and a mother completely exasperated, and usually another child being completely ignored. Those of you without children stand in judgment. I know I did. “If that were my child I would…” I’ll let you complete the sentence in condescending judgment. 
Parents, however, understand. We’ve all been there. Every …
9 comments
Go! »